The Arsonist's Lullabye
by Lana Archer
Summary: Bonnie Bennett is a part of a Coven - The Risen. Everything you know about her life, her home town and its people is wrong. Except maybe her love for Damon Salvatore.
1. Fire

**Note:** Please listen to the song " _The Arsonist's Lullabye_ " by Hozier for this, it's the melody she hums in the beginning and helps to contextualise the feel of the story.

* * *

 **The Arsonist's Lullabye**

Her thin arm reached upward and out; her little fingers dancing between the dust motes flurrying in the air around her. Bonnie's malachite eyes fluttered closed as chills ran over the surface of her skin. In her mind's eye she could _see_ it; the power. She could envision every avenue of her body that it was coursing through, could feel the magma sliding in her veins as it set fire to her core. She began humming a melody in her trance, her back arching and twisting under the ignition of her thoughts. Her dance was slow and steady as she moved to the rhythm of her legacy.

The other hand was raised as well as she sat with her legs folded under her, her head thrown back as she continued to murmur to the song playing in her head. Every candle in the room caught alight and the fireplace roared to life under her command. Her breaths turned to gasps as she spurred her magic on, churned the thrumming electricity on her skin and shooting it outward. Soon other voices, voices that had been haunting her since she came into her power, joined in the melody. Their voices were sonorous and eerie, but she found them to be too beautiful to ignore. They harmonised perfectly with her and left her suspended in the moment.

Here, alone like this, she finally understood what it meant to be a witch. The profound connection with your human vessel to the life around you. Every form life took was accessible to her kind; in the various elements, in the living, in the dead and un-dead. Every factor imaginable was malleable to her. Everything around her was waiting to be transformed into anything she wanted; ready to bend and break at her every whim. The high enveloped her and she sighed in the exquisite bliss. She wanted to live in this moment forever.

The floorboards groaned under the weight of her magic, the windows vibrated from the pressure of the sudden denseness in the atmosphere. Objects lifted and spun, falling into a haphazard orbit around the girl. She was in complete control; even in her reckless abandon. Her hands moved slowly from left to right, in opposite to one another, turning things, crushing things as she continued her melody. Bonnie felt her body lift off of the ground, floating her until she was dead centre of the swirling mass. Her legs stretched out languidly and her head fell back as she hung there in mid-air.

The beat of her heart that had been so serene before began to pick up. Its thuds were loud and strong, adjusting to the new pace of the rest of her body. One by one every object around her started to burn. The flames and embers and ash swam around her, brushed past her, licked at her soft skin – but never harmed her. She was invincible like this, she knew that. She also knew that someone who wasn't her, if put in her situation would have razed this small town to the ground just because they could.

The thing about Bonnie Bennett was that she _tried_ to be good. This meant that she _was_ good, by default. If you didn't at least try you'd blink and wake up in the role of the villain. That was just what kept the world on its axis. That's what kept her quieter when she was outside of her own head. That's what made her seem docile and compliant in the face of adversity. But she was a dragon, a celestial anomaly, she was hell fire and brimstone, she was the requiem. The urge to give into her true nature was hypnotising her, coaxing her into the promise of forever.

That's when she felt him, as she swung around in the air, his eyes like wires shooting through her skin. By now everything around her had dissipated into nothingness but a thick seal of magic still rotated around her. The light reflected off of it, casting an iridescence in the morning light.

"…Bonnie?" His voice was softer than she'd ever imagine hearing it. "Bonnie it's me." She turned to him, eyes open and shimmering, one foot pointing down to the floor, while the other was bent at the knee. Her arms moved with the grace of a trained dancer. She looked _majestic_. Terrifying. Awe-inspiring. She eased herself back into the pull of gravity and smiled at him as her feet touched the ground. When she remembered herself, her face repositioned into a scowl.

"Damon." A curious tilt of her head followed as she ran her eyes over him. "What is it?" He didn't know whether he should stay at the threshold of her room or stand right on top of her like they were used to. Something about her had shifted; slid out of its groove and dropped down lower, sliding into place in foreign territory. It made him anxious and he wasn't used to that when it came to her. She was Bonnie; the coddler, the best friend, the one with a 'heart of gold'. Bonnie smirked as if she could hear his thoughts and he wondered if her heart was in fact made of gold under all of her. _Real_ gold; the kind people killed over, the kind that had weight when it was put in your hand, the kind that would break your knuckles if you tried to break _it_. He was beginning to think that that was in fact the case with her.

"You didn't answer your phone when I called." Every word was wobbling and feeble. He was tired of making excuses to see her in person; he was tired of pretending he knew what he was doing when he wasn't with her. He knew it, she knew it. But she let him pretend (like she'd said she would) and her immediate indifference had left him confused even as he swore to himself that it was what he wanted. "So, I figured I'd come by and see if everything was okay."

"Since when is my ignoring you a sign of anything other than a normal day?" Bonnie questioned, waving a hand and killing the fire that had been blazing next to her. Damon's mouth opened and closed, unsure as he was on how to proceed. Her eyes narrowed as she read him. Her face hardened at what she saw.

"What do you _want_?" She pushed through his excuses with her impatience and walked over to him through the vast expanse of her room, with the gait of a restless lioness. "Spit it out."

"It's not so much what _I_ want," he began, "It's –"

"Elena?" She guessed with a sarcastic curve of her one brow. "You'd think you lot would invest in another witch for these errands of yours."

"They're not errands." He tried.

"Oh, you're _right_ ," Bonnie snorted, eyes shaking as they held his gaze, "Because errands aren't known for resulting in _death_."

"Bonnie, you know how sorry I am," his cerulean eyes were imploring and sincere, making him more annoying than when he smirked or bugged out his eyes, "How sorry _we_ are." They were well within arm's reach now and he could watch as her true feelings on the matter played out in her expression.

"Do you think 'sorry' un-kills someone?" She asked, her eyes narrowed and her jaw taut, "Do you think sorry makes you un- _see_ and un- _feel_ the things someone else's choices put you through?"

"No, I –"

"Then why bother apologising in the first place?" She forged on, "When you know that you yourself would not see an apology like this as sufficient?" She brought him to his knees with a swift kick of her powers. Looking down at him she sneered. "I always knew how little I meant to you, I don't need a daily reminder." He didn't bother struggling against the hold of her magic. She'd crush his skull in an instant when she got like this. He'd seen her do it to someone before – it was disgusting. "Whatever it is that the three of you want, you can get it done with one of the other hundreds of thousands of people like me. But just for the record, touch my Coven and you _die_." The flash of lightning in her eyes echoed her vehemence. "I've already given you my grandmother and my mother, I'll be damned if I let you take me as well or any of them."

"That's," he spluttered, "Bonnie, I would _never_ –"

"What?" She asked, slapping him with a quick aneurysm, "You think I'm supposed to be grateful when you _let_ me live, even when it means that everything else, every _one_ else I love is taken away to make that a guarantee? Don't try and tell me that you care about me Damon, you're a shitty liar and an even worse source of sincerity."

She was absolutely right, he knew that. But he also knew that, right where it mattered – at the crux of it all – _she_ mattered. To him. And he was just now realising that that might not be good enough, not for her.

"You deserve better." He said, meaning every word.

"I _know_ that." She countered. "Hence me not needing your validation or caring for it." He could see the walls being erected between the two of them with her every word, he was running out of time to make things right.

"Don't do this, Bonnie." He tried, "I'm here, and I'm trying –"

"And it's not _good_ enough." She spat, dropping down and grabbing Damon by his throat. "That isn't the first time you've heard that and you and I both know that the path you're on means it also won't be the _last_." She didn't flinch as she verbally lacerated him. "You've gotten so comfortable with second place," Bonnie went on, "You'll never deviate from the path you're on," her eyes were lit up with condescension and levity at his plight, "You'll never really love outside of the very love that's torn you to shreds your whole life. No one damned you but _yourself_ Damon and I won't have any part in that. Not for you, not for Stefan and never again for Elena." She threw him onto his back and began walking away, "And every time I cast a spell for either of you, rescue one, forgive another, a little part of me dies. And to die for a love like the mess between the three of you is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard of. Now get. _Out_."

* * *

Going to school was a necessary evil. Bonnie didn't care for the knowledge on offer, but her father would have her head if she let her life slip past her because of the Supernatural world. And, despite it all, his opinion was one of few who still held weight when it came to her decision making. Dressed in a short green dress and combat boots with her tanned legs on full display Bonnie walked down the crowded morning hallway. She knew people were still looking, still wondering.

The girl whose mother had just up and left. The girl who was raised by a Queen of a grandmother and a ghost of a father. The same grandmother that ruled in Mystic Falls. The girl who then _lost_ her grandmother. The girl who lost her mind. The girl who stopped smiling. The girl who stopped talking. The girl everyone was beginning to become rather wary of. She scoffed at them.

Pulling her headphones off and letting them rest around her neck, Bonnie tapped the girl in front of her on the shoulder.

"Bonnie!" Greta's smile was bright and a welcome distraction from Bonnie's hollow thoughts. "Girl, you look like that time I tried a summoning spell and was haunted for a week." She commented dryly, eyeing the shorter witch out. "What happened?"

"Damon." Bonnie knew that was all she had to say on the matter. Greta's perfect brows turned to sharp hooks. "He tried to get me to do a spell for him."

"You mean _Elena_." The other witch sniped, "Pssh, I'm starting to see why people kick him first and try and talk to him after." Bonnie rolled her eyes in good humour. "Listen, forget about that. I think someone new is joining the coven." This sparked her interest.

"Transfer or late bloomer?" Bonnie asked. Grams had kept an eye on the children in Mystic Falls, waiting for the first signs of ascension. Before she died she hadn't picked up on anyone so Bonnie was interested to see who it could be. They hadn't had an ascension since Greta in the coven.

The taller witch leaned against her locker, her dark eyes shining with excitement.

"Bit of both, I guess?"

"You're doing that thing," Bonnie said with a smirk, "Where you talk a lot but never really _say_ anything."

"Which you find endearing –"

"Tolerable at best," Bonnie corrected her, cracking a smile. "Now, _tell_ me."

"Can't," She didn't look in the least bit contrite, "We're going to be late for class." Greta stood upright. She was a vision in tight jeans, knee-high boots and an off-the-shoulder knitted sweater. Tucking her hair behind her ear she dropped her voice and gave Bonnie a pointed look. "Besides, someone wants to talk to you." Throwing her hair over the shoulder, Greta blew Bonnie a kiss and sauntered off. Closing her eyes and inhaling as deeply as she could Bonnie squared her shoulders and turned.

Stefan Salvatore. _Typical_. She pressed her lips together in annoyance and cleared the space between them.

"You know," she was saying before she'd even reached him, "If you wanted something from me you don't send over the person I despise most in the world to get it." He didn't reply at first, just ran his hands through his hair like some male-commercial-model-wannabe. When he looked at her it was like he was trying to compel her he was staring so hard. It annoyed her; because while it was a well-known fact that witches couldn't be compelled, the fact was that he was still trying to implore her with his _woe-is-me-saga_. That just wasn't going to cut it today. She had more important things to do. Like finally get a decent night's sleep.

"I didn't tell Damon to come to you that was his idea." _Bull shit_.

"Bull shit," Bonnie snorted, "Damon, despite his diatribes on the contrary, is so far up your ass that he'd do anything you say." Her smile was sharp. "Wanna know why? Because what you want Elena wants and what Elena wants Damon wants which means it's what the _world_ wants to you people." She stepped toward him and felt her anger rush forward again. Coaxing it back into the furnace of her chest she settled for a violent glare his way. "Ask me to cast a spell for you one more time and it will be the last goddamn thing you do on the face of this Earth." She leaned back enough for him to gauge her sincerity. "…You got that?"

"Klaus is going to kill her." Was all Stefan said and Bonnie wanted to laugh. Or rip her hair out in frustration.

"Then I suggest you lot start picking out a coffin for her." Bonnie turned on her heel and made her way to class.

* * *

Bonnie's foot was doing an annoying bobbing thing as she sat cross legged in front of the High Priestess. The older woman was rifling through a pile of notes like some Professor at Hogwarts; her reading glasses on the brink of her aristocratic nose. The room they were in had high ceilings and walls all framed with bookshelves save the large bay window to the far left. Bonnie looked so out of place in this oversized, overstuffed high chair she was in. The woman looked perfectly at home; her dark hair billowing down and over her slim shoulders. She wasn't pale or anything dramatic. Her descent gave her a lovely hue that didn't require any sunlight. And her disposition was that of a displeased mother. Or perhaps _spiteful_ was the better word…

As if only now realising she had company the woman's posture shifted in a blink. She whipped her glasses off and activated her smile.

"My _darling_ Bonnie," she practically cooed, "Blessed be."

"Blessed be." Bonnie just stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Noting the younger witch's behaviour, the woman forewent the pleasantries.

"As you know you're still on probation for your previous indiscretions –"

"Mind running them by me again?" Bonnie interrupted, "You know I love a good story." Inhaling through her nose to avoid a snappy remark, Annora squared her shoulders and fulfilled the request.

"Conspiring against your coven with vampires –"

"My friends at the time and to save a _human life_ ," Bonnie interjected.

"Casting spells beyond your means." Bonnie pursed her lips. "Having sexual relations with –"

"Okay enough." Bonnie's breathing was hard. "I get it. I messed up."

"No," the woman's smile was ever present, "You _fucked_ up." She leaned forward, manicured hands splayed on her desk as she held Bonnie's gaze. "That's why I'm the High Priestess and not _you_. You did more than kill you grandmother that night. You did more than turn your mother into a vampire." Bonnie's jaw was clenched tight, "You ruined a legacy of Bennett witches; put your coven in jeopardy and for what?" Her face was finally turning into something beyond the realm of shallow insouciance. Annora was _pissed_.

Her hazel eyes flashed with the promise of retribution on the behalf of her kind. "You didn't tell us about the threat to your mother so our hands were tied when it came to her transition. Exiling her was the best we could do." _For you_ , Bonnie hissed mentally. "You lost so much Bonnie, for the love of a man who couldn't even choose you when no one else was an option." The bay window shattered and sprinkled its fragments all around them.

Annora blinked slowly.

"Say that again and I'll beat you with your own grimoire." Bonnie snarled. Annora slid back into a relaxed position in her chair. Her smile was different now, haughty at the suggestion that Bonnie could best her.

"There's another reason why you'll never lead this Coven. Not only did you endanger us as a species by way of your poor decision making… But your _temper_ ," she tisked and wagged her forefinger at the younger witch. "Your temper is ruining you."

"Is there a point to all this?" Bonnie asked after the longest moment. "Because I'm starting to think you summon me here just to gloat that the only reason that you're even the High Priestess of _anything_ is because a sixteen year old was left to fend for herself against the Originals and came off second best." Annora's eyes hardened. "Name one witch in the history of the world that has fared better than me in similar circumstance." Bonnie held her gaze. "…That's what I thought."

"There's a witch caught in the flux of ascension," Annora transitioned smoothly, reverting to her default settings. "I'll need you and Greta to help them acclimate. This is more to test you than anything else, I'll admit," her eyes were shining with amusement. "Screw this up and we'll have to summon the Elders to decide your fate with us, and you don't want that do you Bonnie?" Actually at this point Bonnie wanted nothing more but she knew there was only one thing worse than belonging to The Risen…and that was going back to being all alone.

No, she wouldn't survive that a second time.

"Fine." Was all she said. "Who is it?"

"Malachai Parker." Annora said, watching Bonnie's reaction, "He's a transfer from Oregan; him and his sister Jo just moved here with their mother…" she rifled through the notes from earlier, "Harriet." Lining up the pages with a quick tap she settled them down and smiled at Bonnie. "Go make him feel welcome, oh, and don't bring up his defective sister, it's a bit of a sore spot." _What a bitch_ …

"Anything else, High Priestess?" Bonnie replied, sardonic smile perfectly in place.

"Yes." Annora replied, more upbeat than before, "Get the fuck out of my office."

* * *

 **Note:** I really wanted to change the basic narrative of the witches in the world of TVD. Let me know if you like this, or I'll just leave it as a one-shot. Stay excellent.


	2. Lavender

**Note:** Trust me when I say this, this story is going to be one helluva ride! Bear hugs to the ones who reviewed the first chapter. I needed it :)

* * *

 **The Arsonist's Lullabye**

Mystic Falls was different, _special_. A rose amongst thorns as far as supernatural habitats went. The town's history could have gone a completely different way; instead, one Emily Bennett made sure that the town would never be the same.

At the time of her ascension she'd been completely alone; grief-stricken by what was deemed as a mutation by her family. See, she'd been the first Bennett in too long a time to become a fully-fledged witch. Covens were practically unheard of in the late 1800s what with vampires ruling over her kind for centuries at this point. No one ever lived to find a kindred spirit, let alone a group of them. But Emily's luck took the shape of a woman, new to town, arriving at her doorstep as though they were long lost friends.

"Hello Emily." The other witch stood, dumbstruck staring at the stranger's outreached hand. The woman was beautiful, almost too beautiful. With long raven hair that hung freely past her narrow waist. Her eyes were hazel and her smile was stained blood red, making her look mischievous despite her obvious sweet disposition. A light brush of olive overruled her complexion and made her seem foreign, ambiguously so. "My name is Elizabeth." She went on with a curious tilt to her, "You've been asking for me?" Emily's frown took a patient seat on her forehead; the woman's mistrust as clear as day. "You're ascending, are you not?"

"Ascending?" Emily echoed, unable to help her stammer. Lowering her hand with a warm smile, Elizabeth locked her hands at her front and sighed.

"Oh my, I do believe I have my work cut out for me." Elizabeth said. "May I come in? I know your mother is at work and your father has left indefinitely on business. Otherwise I would have arrived much sooner, I can assure you that."

"…Who are you?" Emily asked.

"I'm like you," Elizabeth said her smile brightening her features, "A witch." Shock kicked Emily into motion and she swung her front door open, pulling the woman inside.

"I wouldn't broadcast that knowledge around these parts if I were you." Emily scolded, oddly worried for Elizabeth's safety all of a sudden, "Our kind are nothing but a means to an end to the people who roam these streets." Elizabeth seemed amused as she set her small bag down beside the door and regarded her new surroundings.

"You'd like to change that, wouldn't you?" Elizabeth asked.

"More than anything." Emily said assured of her intent. She didn't want to be ostracised anymore, didn't want to be a stain on the pages of her family's history. She wanted to feel like she mattered, to someone more than herself. Emily wanted to feel empowered by what she was, to not spend her life biding her time until someone hunted her down and demanded she cast a spell. Or worse, have her family disown her and live a life of a true outcast. Or both.

"Then that's what we do," Elizabeth said. "We lay claim to our birth right and we take back what is rightfully ours." There was a spark of something in her eyes then, like a bolt of lightning. Something in the shift in her demeanour that called to Emily. It shot down right down to her core and punched a whole square in the middle of it. Emily felt it then, the limitless churning of power that had lain dormant in her bones. She felt it bleed out through her veins to the rest of her body, filling her with liquid fire. She'd cast a spell or two before, on accident or reflexive happenstance – but this, this was different. "There's a reason your magic called me Emily, a reason I survived the slayings at Salem. It was so that we," she closed some of the space between the two of them and took the other witch's hand in hers, "The two of us start our own coven. We disband that horrendous excuse of a council and create the first haven for witches like us. One's that have spent their lives running scared. We make Mystic Falls our home. We make _history_." Emily's mouth hung open. "…What do you say?"

* * *

 **Present Day**

"Do you ever think what it would have been like if Emily said no to Betty?" Bonnie'd been looking out of the car window when Greta spoke. They were driving back to the Martin girl's house to try and think of the least awkward way to strike up a conversation with Malachai. He and his twin sister Jo hadn't started school yet, so they didn't even know what he looked like at this point. Bonnie's nose scrunched up at the question.

"Well for one, we wouldn't be in a coven." Bonnie said, "I doubt your parent's would have even moved here to begin with."

"I doubt any of the bloodlines would have," Greta agreed. "Those two changed the game."

"For sure," Bonnie said, "If they hadn't disbanded the council and started The Risen…" she looked out to the scenery as it blurred by, "Our whole lives would be different. Witches would have become a dying breed." They both shuddered at the thought.

"I can't even imagine what Emily had been going through." Greta sighed wistfully, "She was all alone, and black mind you, coming into her powers in a place that was overrun with vampires and dormant weres and full blown racism." Bonnie nodded. "And then out of nowhere Betty pops up and she's all, ' _join me and we can conquer the world_ '." Bonnie snickered at the dramatic voice the other witch used.

"Well, what would you have said?" Bonnie asked with a rising brow.

"I don't know it's different for us." Greta pulled into her driveway, "We'll never know what it's like…Well," she amended with her eyes cast down for a moment, "I mean, in a way _you_ can –"

"Yeah," Bonnie clicked her seatbelt off and gave Greta a pointed look, "We're not doing this today."

"Are we ever going to talk about what you went through?" Greta asked, that oh-so-familiar frown lining her forehead. "Because, Bonnie, you know that no matter what I've always done my best to have your back –"

"I _know_ that –"

"I wasn't finished Bennett." Greta's hands went to her hips. Knowing she had no other choice but to suck up whatever words were about to come out of her friend's mouth, Bonnie rolled her eyes and stood still in front of her. "But that also means that every now and then I might have a better idea of what you _need_. You know you love your denial. I'm just trying to look out for you. This is more than the Coven Bon; you're my _friend_ , my _good_ friend, hell, a _best_ friend and that means that I'm going to help you move past all of this." Bonnie looked down at her feet, she could feel the sharp sting of tears in her eyes. "You're not alone anymore… you know that right?" Bonnie nodded and looked up as a tear fell over and she wiped at it quickly.

"I do." Greta's smile was watery as she pulled the shorter girl into a hug. It took a moment, but Bonnie's arms wrapped around her as well and she sank into the embrace. Their connection sprang to life at their contact and slowly Bonnie's emotions began to leak into the forefront of Greta's mind. Simultaneously, Greta's hope and concern began to fill her lungs. She needed this. "Thank you." Her voice was thick and she laughed as they pulled apart. "Can we go inside and figure this Parker shit out now, please? I'm tired of being a wreck."

"Sure," Greta nodded, "But just a head's up, Lavender has decided to start practicing for her ascension." She rolled her eyes as Bonnie's face lit up with affectionate amusement.

"She knows she's only six, right?" Greta bumped her shoulder as they walked to the door.

"Tell her that at your own risk."

* * *

" _Bonnie_!" The girl's squeak caught the Bennett witch off-guard as little Lavender hurried over to say hello. Dropping to her haunches Bonnie was enveloped in her second hug of the day, groaning happily as the little girl squealed the life out of her. "I've missed you!" Lavender's toothy grin was so gorgeous that Bonnie couldn't help the smile that pulled at her cheeks in response. "I was worried you weren't coming to visit me again?" Her small voice grew thick with childlike embarrassment that pulled on the older witch's heart-strings.

"And spend my days missing you?" Bonnie cooed, " _Never_. Our tea parties are my favourite thing in the world!" Lavender's smile grew even wider.

"Can we have one now?" She asked, batting her long lashes for added effect. Bonnie took in all the small ways the girl had grown up since Bonnie last saw her. Sure, it had only been a few months, but kids at her age grew in spurts and bursts and you'd get left behind faster than you could blink. Lavender's thick, wavy hair was ribboned up into a neat plait that framed the top of her head and circled around to the back, making her look like she was from a different time. Her skin was still that smooth caramel, flawless in only the way children's skin could be. Lavender pushed up her glasses habitually and waited for a response. Bonnie tisked and put on her best contrite expression. Lavender's bottom lip jutted out immediately.

"I can't my love," Bonnie said sweetly, "Your sister and I have a Coven thing we need to take care of." Looking down and pointing her one foot to the floor and swinging it about to emphasise her disappointment Lavender added a long sigh in response.

"Okay, but you know you can't use that as an excuse forever." Bonnie's brows rose in an amused, 'oh?', "Yeah, 'cause soon I'm gonna be a witch and then I'll get to do Coven things _too_."

"Yeah," Bonnie's grin was huge, "And lemme guess," She narrowed her eyes playfully at the little girl, "You're gonna host loads of tea parties with your séances?" Lavender's nod made her head bob from her enthusiasm.

"Yes," Lavender said seriously, "And you'll have to bring Ms Cuddles so that Patches has someone to sit with while we cast spells and stuff." Bonnie laughed and took Lavender's hands in hers and started swinging them. She could feel Jonas' eyes on her but she ignored them as she spoke to the girl again.

"Deal," Bonnie said and stood to her feet, still holding Lavender's hand as the little girl announced Bonnie's presence to her father.

"I see so honey," Jonas said with a warm smile but the wariness in his eyes was clear as day when they settled on Bonnie. "It's good to see you again Bonnie."

"You too, sir. Greta and I have to go V," she smiled at Lavender's pout. "Tea party soon?" Bonnie held out her pinkie. Hooking her tinier one and grinning, Lavender bounded away into the living room. Looking back to Mr Martin, Bonnie swallowed under the weight of his gaze.

"Dad, _enough_." Greta said as she sensed the shift in the atmosphere. He ignored her and crossed his arms.

"As an elder in the Coven I can't say I'm happy to see you," the man's gruff voice set Bonnie's good mood aflame, "But…As a father, and as one person to another," both girl's frowned at the change in his tone, "I'm sorry about what happened to you and I hope it's the last time you'll go through something like that." Bonnie nodded, unable to look him in the eye for too long. "Greta says you've been assigned to the Parker boy?"

"Yes sir," Bonnie nodded. "Although, we haven't so much as seen him yet."

"Well that would be because his mother has done her damnedest to keep him hidden until he starts school. Apparently he's a little…different." Great, just what she needed; a difficult fledging to rear into the Coven – _brilliant_. "She's delaying the inevitable though, but we all know once he starts school and fully ascends he's under Annora's guard." Greta and Bonnie locked eyes then.

"It's not rare for mother's to be nervous about their children joining a Coven," Bonnie said, a little unnecessarily she felt, it was common knowledge. "…But that's not what you mean is it?" Jonas shook his head.

"I think we're dealing with what happened with Sun's father." He explained. Both girls winced. Sun Bak's dad had barely gotten it in writing that she was a part of the Coven before he high-tailed it back to Seoul. "At least that's the feeling I got when Annora and I screened his mother, she was incredibly skittish and anxious throughout the entire meeting." Greta exhaled at length as she fiddled with the ends of her curls. "I don't know the kid obviously, but something like this, _as we all know_ , can be detrimental to his ascension. So just, be sensitive to that when you seek him out." Nodding they left the room and made their way upstairs to Greta's bedroom.

* * *

"This shit just keeps getting better," Bonnie griped as she made herself at home on her friend's bed. Looking around she noticed the subtle changes in the bedroom. "Since when do you like Lana Del Rey?" She wondered, pointing to the poster up on the far wall. Peeling off her boots and depositing them near her dresser, Greta rolled her eyes playfully.

"You're not the only who's deviated from their usual taste in music in their adolescence you know," She smirked, "Sometimes I need a little angst too. Besides, you're one to talk _Hozier_."

"Hey," Bonnie held up a finger, "You know I like listening to his stuff when I'm getting ready to channel."

"Yeah, you like all the tension building," a wink, "Speaking of tension –"

"Here we go –"

"It's a simple question Bonnie, not a life sentence." She sang.

" _Fine_." Grinning, Greta folded her legs up as she joined Bonnie on the bed. Out of nowhere, Greta's cat, Cleo appeared and hopped into her lap. Greta blindly reached down to stroke the animals head, a loud purr rumbling through the creature in response.

"Did you threaten to beat Annora with her own grimoire when she summoned you?" Greta was barely containing her glee. Bonnie's skin reddened at the memory of her outburst. "Sun said she was eavesdropping when she heard the window shatter."

"… _Yeah_ , that happened." A loud cackle left the other witch's lips that Bonnie easily fell in line with.

"Man," Greta wiped away a tear, "I bet the look on her face was priceless."

"Oh you know _Annora_ ," Bonnie's voice lilted upward as she mocked their High Priestesses usual tone, "If she isn't smiling at you you're probably hallucinating or dead." Greta hummed in agreement.

"She is strangely upbeat for someone so salty." Bonnie giggled. "I still can't believe you said that to her."

"She pushed me too far," Bonnie said as she fiddled with the lilac throw blanket between her fingers, "She knows exactly how to get to me."

"It's a mom thing." Greta shrugged. "Mine has a PhD in that department."

"Annora's never given birth to anything," Bonnie countered, "And don't say it's maternal instinct that drives her. She wouldn't know how to handle a sleeping baby."

"Yeah, but she gets the job done when it comes down to it," Greta reasoned, "We might not like her and she might not like us but at the end of the day we're pretty much all each other has outside of our families, _if_ that."

"I know," Bonnie's mouth pulled to the side, "She just gets under my skin a lot. It's like she wants to burrow in there and find a new life for herself."

"It's cause in her own way, she cares about you." Greta said confidently, "She cares about all of us. It's about the only reason anyone puts up with her."

"That and you know," Bonnie waved a hand around lazily, "Us all being connected by the bond of the Coven, and then our cluster."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to it," The Martin witch said, "Like, right now, I know that Sun is meditating outside and trying her best not to think about her father and her brother." If Bonnie closed her eyes she could almost feel the sunlight on Sun's skin and the slow breeze passing through the trees around her.

"We should try and get her out the house more," Bonnie said, "I mean, she barely says anything at school anymore – to _anyone_." Greta stared at her drolly. "I at least talk to you." Bonnie defended herself.

"So how are we going to handle this Malachai Parker situation?" Greta said, changing gears in their conversation, "We can't just chuck him in the deep end and hope for the best." She fiddled with Cleo's ears.

"I think we should invite him to The Grille, have milkshakes and show him around town, suss him out a bit."

"How much do you think his mother's told him?" Bonnie sucked air through her teeth and pulled a face.

"If he's the first to ascend in their family in the last few generations I'll say little to none." Bonnie said, "And I don't know what your dad meant by difficult but Annora also hinted at some weirdness, so I don't know what we're in for honestly."

"He's probably a goth."

"That's not weird so much as it is tacky and outdated," Bonnie smiled, "He's probably just a loner, wondering why he's so different all of a sudden."

"The song of our people." Greta laughed.

* * *

When Greta dropped Bonnie off, she finally let the day's events fall onto her shoulders, sagging her posture and making her eyes feel like they'd been cooked under the sun. She was _exhausted_. Looking up at the heinously ostentatious estate she'd grown up in, Bonnie wondered how she was ever expected to lead a normal life.

With her father being the devout business man that he was (subsequently one of the richest men in Virginia) he was hardly home, which meant that Bonnie and her cat Nyx generally had the house all to themselves. If you didn't count the two security guards, the two round-the-clock staff members and a security system _so_ complex that it made a Labyrinth look like a straight line.

Greeting the men, she rolled her eyes as one stepped away from his port and escorted her to the front doors. He nodded at her before she walked inside, saying nothing. It was times like these that Bonnie missed her Grams. Walking into her Grams' home was like stepping into a warm kitchen that smelled like freshly baked goods and cinnamon. Always cinnamon. Grams had always been there to greet her when she stepped into the door; the woman's smile a mile wide and her arms extended and at the ready.

Bonnie trudged up the spiralling stairwell and walked down the lushly carpeted hall in the left wing.

"Nyxie." She called softly, "Where are you girl?" A low meow responded from her bedroom where the door was ajar. Dropping her messenger bag on the floor as she entered, Bonnie stepped out of her boots and yanked her dress off, making her way to her shower. On complete auto pilot she readied for bed. Pulling on her underwear and oversized sweater, foregoing pants of any kind she joined her jet black cat on her bed. "My day was awful Nyx, just awful." The cat nuzzled the tip of its nose to Bonnie's. "One of these days I'm going to go through with that spell and make myself a cat, just like you," She whispered conspiratorially, "Then we can roam free and do whatever it is you do when you're not sleeping on my face." Nyx turned to look at her then, bopping Bonnie's nose softly with her paw before turning on her back lazily. "I know… I'd never do it. But it's a nice thought." A low hum was all she got in return. Lifting the bedding down on both sides, her and Nyx climbed in and settled into the mushy haven of comfort while a fire burst to life a few feet away. Leaving the blanket low on Nyx's end and yanking it a little higher on her own, Bonnie lay on her back and stared up at her ceiling.

Like clockwork she began replaying the events that changed everything for her. She pointed out moments to herself that hindsight had flagged in red where she could have walked away. Where she wouldn't have set off a chain of events that cost her Grams her life. Or turned her mother into something a witch would never wish on their enemy – a vampire. It all started the day Stefan arrived at the school. When Sheila had sensed a new vampire in town she'd put the entire Coven on alert, but Stefan had made a point of showing them how set he was on leading a 'normal' life.

That's when Damon blew into town and brought hell with him. As Bonnie's eyes fell closed her subconscious patted the seat next to itself as the reel of her memories lit up behind her eyelids. The first memory was always the same:

" _Who, him?" Elena asked, "Oh, that's Stefan's brother, Damon. He's cute right?"_

" _He's alright." Bonnie muttered, failing to hide her interest. Elena grinned. Damon's attention snapped over to Bonnie then and her breath caught in her throat. She'd never seen eyes like his before. Blue eyes, sure; by the dozen – but there was something that spun around his pupil that surpassed the usual pale blue colour of its likeness. Damon's were the eye of a storm. She didn't blink as he walked over to her, that smirk she'd come to know so well splayed on his face._

" _And who might you be?" He asked, holding out his hand, when she made to shake it he stopped her and slowly lifted it to his lips. The coldness of his vampirism wasn't why her skin broke out in gooseflesh, but if anyone asked that was what she was going with. He pressed a soft kiss to her skin, startling her with the texture of his lips._

" _Bonnie." She breathed. "Bonnie Bennett."_

" _Nice to meet you, Bonnie. I'm Damon." Bonnie thought about the moments, in movies; the moments just before something epic happened – that build…It was what she felt as she held his gaze. Elena watched their reaction to one another and felt some kind of success, especially considering how averse Bonnie had been to her relationship with Stefan. Her opinion was officially null and void if the instant attraction the human girl was looking at was any proof. Getting up and walking over to her boyfriend, Elena glanced back over her shoulder as Bonnie's hand fell away but Damon stayed close to her, like he was already at home with their proximity._

 _She missed the look of concern on Stefan's face as he took it in as well – this was not going to end well for Bonnie._

* * *

 **A/N:** Reviews are the easiest way to get me to update, honest. Also, little Lavender is based on the character that is best friends with Matilda (in the movie _Matilda_ ). That last section in italics is a real flashback that stemmed from Bonnie's dreaming. There'll be a few more of those in the near future. (Actual flashbacks, I mean)

You get a thousand points for guessing why I wrote a character like Lavender into the story. Not that they're redeemable or anything.

Stay excellent XO


	3. Malignant

**Note:** Thank you to everyone who reviewed. This is for you XO

* * *

 **The Arsonist's Lullabye**

A few days passed before Bonnie and Greta met up with Malachai. It was on his first day of class and they found him hovering by his locker, glaring at the lock with so much intensity they were surprised the poor device hadn't melted under his withering gaze. His sister Jo, they assumed as they didn't recognise her either, was leaning against the locker beside his, her eyes cast upward as she yammered on about something neither of them seemed interested in talking about.

"They look nice." Bonnie muttered as she pulled her headphones off and tossed them into her locker. Greta snorted as she kept her eyes on the duo. Jo and Kai must have been fraternal twins because they hardly looked anything alike. "Should we get this over with then?" Bonnie went on, adjusting the strap of her messenger bag on her shoulder.

"It's now or never I guess." Greta slid the handle of her handbag into the crook of her elbow and the two of them made their way over to Mystic Falls' newest supernatural residents. Greta was dressed in skin tight denim and a plain white tank top and ballet flats while Bonnie donned a pair of dungaree shorts and a maroon t-shirt underneath with her combat boots. Both of them had let their hair hang loose today, Bonnie's in waves and Greta's in tight curls. Malachai's eyes snapped over to the pair as they neared them. Jo noticed his distraction and followed suit, her eyes narrowing tentatively. Upon closer inspection Bonnie could see their likeness. Both had brilliant deep blue eyes and mousy brown hair; Malachai's cropped short and Jo's in a shoulder-length bob that accentuated her sharp features.

"Hello," Greta spoke up first, "I'm Greta Martins and this is Bonnie Bennett." The shorter witch waved awkwardly at them, her small smile trying to put an ease on the atmosphere. "We were wondering if we could talk to you for a second, Malachai." He didn't say anything at first, looked over at Jo who shrugged indifferently.

"I'll see you at lunch then." The girl said, standing upright and walking away. Greta tilted her head as she watched her leave, her white cotton dress and ankle-boots pairing making her think it was something Bonnie would wear. Malachai's eyes drifted over to Bonnie and she held his gaze, completely unbothered.

"You're witches?" He asked. Greta's attention returned to his face and she nodded. "I don't know why, but this wasn't exactly what I was expecting."

"We save the cauldrons and lairs for the VIPs." Bonnie joked. "Look, we just wanna talk to you for a bit, help you out with your ascension and see if you're fit to be a part of the Risen."

"I don't want to ascend." He said, surprising the girls with his seriousness. "And I don't know the first thing about spells or magic or whatever, but what I _do_ know is that whatever is happening to me is not normal – not even by your standards."

"That's a little dramatic." Bonnie frowned and Malachai exhaled and lifted his eyes heavenward. Greta waved a hand between the three of them.

"Look, either way, we're going to help you. Whatever it is, it's not going to be the end of your world." He stared at her long and hard before nodding. "Meet us at the Grille after school?"

"Sure." He pressed his lips together, shrugged up the hood of his jacket and walked off. Greta turned to Bonnie and gave her a look.

"He's the one being all existential and brooding." Bonnie quipped. "Whatever, I'm checking on Sun. Later." Walking down the hall Bonnie sought the other witch out. Using a combination of the link between their cluster and her knowledge of all things Sun Bak, she eventually found the girl out back. Wrinkling her nose and evading a stoner with every wary step, Bonnie scuttled over to the girl who was sitting atop a wooden bench staring out at nothing in particular.

"What gives?" Bonnie asked as she joined her friend on the table, gesturing a hand around them.

"Today's not a good day." Was all Sun said in response. "It's the anniversary of my mother's death."

"How did I not know that?" Bonnie gasped softly. Sun turned her dark eyes on the other witch then, a bitter smile gracing her lips. Bonnie's realisation sent a whoosh of guilt through her. Sun had cut off their awareness the same way Bonnie had back when she thought she knew she was doing. When Sheila was still the High Priestess and Bonnie was knee-deep in her quest to save Elena Gilbert's life. She'd hidden so much from her Coven then and she really hated the reminder. But, she checked herself, this wasn't about her. This was about Sun. And Sun wasn't okay. "I'm sorry." Bonnie whispered, resting her head on Sun's shoulder. "Is there anything I can do?" the Korean witch shook her head sadly, the short wisps of her black hair blowing around her face. Sitting this close to her, Bonnie could feel everything about Sun so intensely.

She could feel how much weight Sun had lost with every creak of the girl's bones as she moved and breathed. She could feel the ache in her own stomach every time Sun's mother's face blurred her vision. Bonnie could feel everything so she knew the case was very much the same with Sun and everything she herself was feeling. Sun sighed and curled her arm around Bonnie's shoulders.

"You're no better," The fairer witch said matter-of-factly, leaving no room for Bonnie to bother denying it. "When are you ever going to talk about what happened?"

"When it stops hurting." Bonnie said solemnly.

"That's not how it works," Sun disagreed gently, "You can't keep hurting yourself like this."

"Hey," Bonnie lifted her head and looked Sun head on, "This isn't about me. This is about you today, you and your mom – that's what matters right now."

"Okay," Sun allowed, "But when are you going to allow yourself the same reprieve?" Dropping her hand from Bonnie's back the other witch stood to her feet and hopped down onto the gravel. "Thank you Bonnie, for being here for me. I know you care, I just wish you would let us do the same." Bonnie watched the witch walk away and felt her eyes begin to sting.

More than anything she wanted to pretend none of it happened. That she hadn't kissed Damon back. Or fallen for him. Or taken the onus of the battle between Klaus and Katherine on her shoulders. She wished she'd never cut herself off from her cluster within the Coven. She wished that she could articulate the excruciating pain that burned holes in her soul whenever she thought about the consequences of her actions. Dropping her head into her hands she balled up everything she was feeling and swallowed it like a bitter pill.

She'd deal with it all, just not today.

* * *

Bonnie was staring ahead blankly in chemistry class, when someone cleared their throat as they came and sat next to her. Turning to see who it was she locked eyes with Jo Parker.

"Hi," the blue-eyed girl said, somewhat nervously, "You're Bonnie right?"

"And you're Jo." Bonnie replied. Jo tried to smile but something more pressing caused her to frown and lean in instead.

"No matter what," Jo said dropping her voice to a whisper, "Malachai isn't dangerous or a bad person." If anything, this made Bonnie more wary of the entire situation. "He likes to tell people that he is, hell, it's gotten to the point where he believes it himself. But he's good. Please look after him." Reading the sincerity and worry in the eyes of the other girl Bonnie nodded and smile.

"Sure," The witch, "In the meantime. How about you be my lab partner?"

"Really?" Bonnie almost laughed at her adorable expression.

"Of course," Bonnie smiled. "It's either that or ask Mr Huntington to assign you to someone. And that never ends well." Jo smiled gratefully and set her books down that she'd held close to her chest before.

"Thanks Bonnie."

* * *

Bonnie and Greta were walking across campus to the parking lot at the end of the day, passing the football field in their trek. Bonnie's eyes flickered to and from the cheerleaders doing a run-through of their routine. Greta's eyes lingered and narrowed at two girls in particular.

"You'd think with her life hanging in the balance, she'd at least put some more effort into her high kicks." Bonnie snorted as she rolled her eyes at the back of her friends head. Elena and Caroline weren't her concern anymore. "So you never told me about how Sun's doing?" Bonnie chewed on her bottom lip as she climbed into Greta's jade Jeep.

"Her mom's anniversary is today." Greta's mouth fell open. "No one knew, she, she hid it from everyone." Greta stilled as she processed everything.

"God, we're all a mess aren't we?" She breathed after a while.

"Not you," Bonnie pointed out, "You're the only one holding it together at the moment." Starting the engine, Greta turned the volume of the radio down.

"That's 'cause I got lucky," the other witch said, "I'm starting to think all this sheltered living has stunted my growth a bit."

"This coming from one of the tallest women I know," Bonnie laughed, "Count your blessings, Martin. It's no fun on the dark side."

"I'll take your word for it, Maleficent."

"Do you think he'll show?" Bonnie asked after a moment. Greta pursed her full lips.

"He'd better, or else we're going hunting."

* * *

Malachai was sitting in a booth at the far end of the restaurant when they walked in. He had his earphones in, bobbing his head to the music as he poked at his milkshake with a straw.

"He's kind of adorable," Greta said as they took a moment to take him in, "In a lost puppy kind of way."

"Oh my god you _like_ him!" Bonnie hissed, dodging the swatting hands she received as an answer, "You haven't had a crush on someone…since, well, actually come to think of it when was the last time you went on a date?"

"Shut up. This is business." Greta scolded haughtily, making her way to Malachai and ending the conversation with Bonnie.

"Malachai." Greta's face was almost too bright as she smiled down at him but he didn't notice anything amiss as he popped out his earbuds. Bonnie was reigning in her snicker as they slid into the seat across from him. "I'm glad you came."

"Well, from what I can tell, if I hadn't you would have found me anyway." _Smart_ , Bonnie noted. "How many witches are in this town anyways?" He asked.

"In the town or in our Coven?" Bonnie asked, "Because there is a difference."

"Do some people not make the cut?" He teased.

"Yes and no," Greta answered, "It's mainly because some people don't want to actively live in the world of witchcraft, but they do want to call a place like Mystic Falls, where witches are openly accepted, their home."

"Huh." Was all he said.

"What do you know about being a warlock?" Bonnie asked. Malachai pushed his drink aside and scratched the back of his neck.

"I know that there are spells passed down through generations in grimoires and whatever…I know that as a practitioner of magic there are rules in place that I need to follow."

"For example…?" Bonnie pressed.

"The balance of nature," he huffed, "Which brings us to the first and biggest problem."

"The reason why you don't want to ascend?" Greta guessed. He nodded and looked down.

"The first time I, well, my sister and I Jo realised I was a warlock was when… It was a few months ago and she'd come home telling me about something her boyfriend had done to her." His jaw clenched. "While it was the best case scenario for her dealing a prick like him I got mad, too mad. She tried to stop me and I don't even know from what because all I could see was this veil of red over my eyes and I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to hurt him _bad_."

"So I did. I'd found him at this hill all the kids at home used to hang out at and I just took a swing at him." His laugh was humourless. "Of course, being a twig in comparison to him I ended up getting beaten black and blue by them. But I kept thinking, good, you know? Rather me than her. Just as they made to leave I felt this gush of adrenaline fill my body. Jo was still screaming somewhere behind me, trying to get to me. God knows what she good she thought would come of that, but anyways…One second he's just standing over me, set to spit on me or whatever it is that his type are prone to do to kids like me…When he lets out this ear-splitting scream and falls over." Bonnie and Greta were quiet.

"I'd snapped his fibula," Malachai's grin was hollow, "Then came another crack, splitting his femur. I'll never forget what his bones looked like sticking out of his skin." At this point he was lost in his own story. "This is where it gets good," he went on, "The lights of the cars around us flicker and go out. Then the street lamps. The wind dies down and everyone stops dead. I could hear them all breathing, scared. Their little hearts and Jo's…God she was so scared for me."

"I almost killed him that night. Not by breaking his bones, but something in my magic was sucking the literal life out of him. If, if Jo hadn't managed to get to me and pull me out of whatever trance I was in…well, he would be in worse shape than the coma he's currently in."

"I don't understand." Greta said.

"Did you hurt anyone else?" Bonnie asked and his eyes locked on her.

"Yes," he said lowly, "Jo ended up passing out when she'd held onto me for too long and the rest of them dropped like flies." He swallowed. "It was only Jo's boyfriend who was left in critical condition though." The way he said was more to reassure himself of the fact that anything else, they could tell. "When she woke up about an hour later she was just staring at me. Like she didn't know me, feel safe around me. Who can blame her?"

"Give me your hand." Bonnie said, startling the other two.

"Did you not just hear what I said?" Malachai was incredulous as he leaned in and hissed at her. "Touching me isn't safe."

"Oh come off it," She snapped, "Give me your _hand_." She stuck her own out impatiently. Looking to Greta, Malachai was met with a small shrug of confusion so he forged on and reached out to Bonnie.

Once their skin connected an influx of information dumped itself in the foreground of Bonnie's consciousness. But a pain, an alien electricity shocked the Bennett Witch to her core. With a gasp she pulled herself away from him. His face was hard at her reaction.

"I _told_ you." He groused.

"Your sister," Bonnie ignored him, "She's not a witch. Why?" Anger flushed his features and he exhaled through his nostrils.

"I don't know," he said tersely, "But I'm glad she's not like me. She's better off."

"Malachai, someone _cursed_ you." Bonnie said, "I can feel it inside of you." Her brain was still sorting through everything their connection had taught her but she knew that much already.

"Cursed?" Greta echoed. Bonnie nodded at her. "How bad is it?" Malachai's eyes echoed her question.

" _Bad_." Bonnie admitted. "But, we can figure this out." She said with so much confidence that for a split second he let himself believe. But then he pulled back and shook his head.

"All I need you two to do is to un-do my ascension." He decided. When he looked up and between the two of them, he'd never seen two similarly appalled and disgusted expressions before.

"Ex _cuse_ me?" Greta's mouth hung open.

"How _dare_ you." Bonnie bit out as she gnashed her teeth together. He panicked at their reaction.

"You don't just spit in the face of your fate." Greta smacked her hand down on the table.

"You don't walk away from your powers when it gets hard." Bonnie agreed, her emerald eyes shining with intensity. "You stay and you fight. It's your _birth-right_."

"My powers _hurt_ people!" He bit out.

"And we'll help you fix that." Bonnie matched his tone, Greta's curls bouncing as she nodded along with Bonnie. "You picked the wrong Coven buddy, we're not letting you throw your life away because someone cursed your powers." He looked between the two of them and a foreign sensation curled around his heart. They cared about him. Despite what he'd told them. Bonnie saw the shift in his resolve and smiled, looking at Greta, her smile turning to a full blown grin. "Step one, find out exactly what happened to you."

* * *

When Bonnie's driver curled into the gravelled driveway, she could feel her exhaustion setting in. This tiredness was different though, and she appreciated that. Her and Greta had spent hours brainstorming what on Earth had happened to Malachai and it had renewed Bonnie's sense of purpose – helping out a fellow witch like that.

It made her think of Grams again, which she chalked up to being inevitable now, and what the woman had always said:

 _Do it from the heart baby, there's no other way to live_

It was an unspoken fact among covens across the world; the bonds developed through familiar casters grew to a level so profound that friendship or loyalty just didn't cut it. And within your coven, if you were lucky, you began to form a 'cluster'. These people were more than your fellow witches and warlocks, they were your kindred spirits, your confidants. This kind of connection broke right through the walls of your own magic and blended you all together into an unstoppable force. So far Bonnie's cluster included Sun and Greta, but who knew who else would get blown into Mystic Falls? The cluster had called to Sun all the way from South Korea… _anything_ was possible. A cluster was what birthed The Risen with Emily Bennett and Elizabeth Parris. Just thinking about it gave Bonnie chills.

Stepping into her house she made her way up the stairwell, not really taking anything in, just making a beeline for her bedroom. She didn't even jump when she found Sun sitting on her bed.

"Hey." Her frown was instant. "…You okay?" A single tear fell from Sun's eye as the girl shook her head no. Dropping everything, Bonnie hurried over to her and pulled Sun into a tight hug. It was so rare that Sun expressed anything beyond contempt and sarcasm that seeing her like this; seeing everything Bonnie knew she was feeling be lifted to the surface – it floored Bonnie. Sun's sniffles progressed to sobs, the sound bouncing off of the walls of the quiet of the rest of the house.

Too much pain was rising out of the small witch, and Bonnie didn't know what to do. So she just held onto Sun and hoped that one day Sun would stop missing home. Stop resenting her father for deserting her. Forgive her brother for standing by while her entire world fell apart. That's all Bonnie wanted for Sun. It was a while before Sun pulled away, looking as exhausted as anyone would after that purge of emotion. "Sleepover?" Bonnie asked softly. Sun nodded again. Turning, Bonnie smiled when Greta appeared on the other end of her bed.

"I brought my own pillow." The third witch said with a soft smile as she stepped to the bed. Bonnie crawled into the middle and lay on her back; Sun and Greta mirroring her position. They all held hands and closed their eyes, chanting a slumber-spell so that for once, a decent night's rest would be had. It wasn't a big moment, in fact, in the greater scheme of things nights like these ended up in a musical montage. But here, to them, right now. It meant the world.

This was the first step forward.

* * *

 **A/N:** Anyone who is a fan of _Sense8_ (where I've pulled Sun Bak from) is surely caught onto how I've decided to write the connection between a Coven, and more specifically, the 'clusters' that develop within them. The connection between a cluster of witches is more profound than that of a Coven as a whole. It's kind of exciting, no?

Stay excellent.


	4. Seriously

**Note:** So glad some of you are _Sense8_ fans as well, that show blew my mind to bits - it was glorious. Thank you for reviewing, it makes all this so worth it XO

* * *

 **The Arsonist's Lullabye**

"We have a problem." Bonnie said early the Saturday morning. Annora lifted her brows in faux surprise.

"I'm assuming that's why you were banging my door down and wouldn't let me change out of my pyjamas before you had your say."

"Basically." Bonnie said as she took her seat across from the High Priestess in the woman's office. "Malachai's problem is bigger than we thought." Annora flipped into business mode faster than a blink.

"Is it his mother?" The older witch asked, "Has she fled already?" Bonnie huffed.

"Not yet," She said, "There's a reason why the Parker twins are the first in the history of our kind to not _both_ be born with powers."

"And that is because…?"

"Someone's cursed them. Or more accurately, their actual bloodline." Bonnie'd been up the last few nights trying to piece it all together. Sure, partially it was out of the goodness of her heart, but more so that she'd stop thinking about her own problems. "I looked into spells and curses that we were taught during our ascension and first few months of tutoring." Annora nodded, hurrying her. "Fact is, I think someone used a combination spell on Harriet before the twins were birthed."

"Spells? Which spells?" Annora's face was grim.

"I think it was a combination of _transuerso_ and _exhaurire_ spells." Bonnie said. "It must have manifested into a cocktail designed to make the twins human."

"Why would you cast a reversal and draining spell on _unborn children_?" Annora's skin flushed in anger. Bonnie shook her head sadly.

"It gets worse," Bonnie said, "There's a reason Malachai is about to ascend anyway." She looked down at her notebook scrawled with all her theories, flipping it shut as she chewed on her bottom lip. "When I touched him I _felt_ something." Annora waved a hand for her to continue when she seemed to stall in her explanation. "I think the spell backfired and instead it tethered itself to the strongest foetus…Malachai told us this story of how he first realised what he was. He'd siphoned all the energy around him when his defences were high. That's not natural, that's not our default reaction as witches. Siphoning is not the same as channelling and I think because of what this person has done to him now, whenever he casts a spell, he drains his surroundings." Annora was at a loss for words. "Annora," the older woman's attention snapped onto Bonnie's face. She never called her by her first name. "He doesn't even want to ascend because of this, and, right now…how can we hold that against him?"

"What are you saying?" Annora accused.

"What I'm saying," Bonnie's voice grew hard at the insinuation in Annora's tone, "We need to somehow reverse all of this before he truly ascends, or, or who knows what will happen when he comes into his true powers and casts a spell? Even if by accident?" Tapping her nails on the wooden desk between them Annora became pensive. Then slowly she began nodding and eventually looked back up at Bonnie.

"I'll call my cluster together, we'll figure this out." Bonnie nodded, a flutter of relief settling her stomach some. "Good job, Bonnie." A tense moment passed between them after Annora said that and they both just kind of looked at the other waiting to see who'd react first.

"I'm going to go before this gets weirder."

"Do that," They both stood up, "I'll call you if we find anything today. In the meantime, check in on the twins if you can and keep them calm."

"Yes ma'am." Bonnie squared her shoulders, inclining her head. "Blessed be."

"Blessed be."

* * *

Greta liked taking Lavender out for milkshakes every Saturday morning, it was their thing. The little girl was blathering on about the importance of the bubble gum flavour when a shadow loomed over their booth. Both Martin's sisters raised their heads and appraised the stranger with open suspicion. Lavender because she was told to follow her instincts and not to talk to strangers, and Greta, well, because she knew better than to look at Damon Salvatore with anything but that.

"Witch." The vampire smiled. He wiggled his fingers at the younger girl who stammered a polite hello in response. She had manners after all.

" _Scum_ ," Greta's smile was sharp, "What brings you out of your hovel this early in the morning?"

"Business." He replied curtly, as his eyes took in the people who were milling around them, "Usually the only other person I find you with is _slightly_ taller than this cupcake over here." He hinted. Lavender scowled prettily.

"I'm plenty tall mister," the six-year old defended, "Besides. I haven't hit pew-purdy yet." Despite her annoyance, Greta chuckled at her sister. Damon regarded Lavender with a vague combination of amusement and fascination. Remembering his original intent in approaching them he cleared his throat and looked back at Greta.

"Bonnie, where is she?" He asked. Greta's guard went up faster than a smack to the face.

"Last time I checked whenever you're concerned for someone's well-being the only question you're able to form is 'Where's Elena?' which is dumb even for you, because you know she's always with your brother." Lavender's eyes were swinging to and fro, knowing that something important was being spoken of here. Something her daddy liked to call 'adult conversations' or 'Coven matters'. So she looked down at her open drawing book and kept herself busy. "Or, you know, incapacitated." Damon gritted his teeth. "Even if I knew I wouldn't tell you. It's none of your business."

 _I just wanted to say goodbye_

They both stilled when the thought passed through him. Damon eyed her out, knowing there was a chance she'd heard him, he'd been thinking it so loudly. Huffing and tugging on the lapels of his leather jacket he straightened his spine and went back to smirking.

"Enjoy your milkshakes." He muttered before he left the Grille in swift strides without looking back.

"Who was that?" Lavender wondered, adding a second petal to her flower, her hand holding the crayon with the seasoned lilt of an older artist. Greta liked watching her draw.

"No one important." Was all Greta said, "So what do you say," she leaned in and wiggled her brows. "Wanna share some chicken nuggets with me?"

"Only if we get cheese fries!" The girl exclaimed excitedly, dropping her book closed and beaming up at her sister.

"Alright. Let's get this party started."

* * *

"Can you take me to The Grille please Henry?" Bonnie called out to her driver after she'd finally gotten herself dressed for the day. She was choosing to look past the fact that she'd had a conversation with Annora in her bright green onesie. She'd teleported to the woman's house declaring her knowledge an emergency, but it wasn't 'allowed' for witches to be ostentatious with their powers. One, casting spells all willy-nilly wasn't how a witch belonging to the Risen conducted themselves and two, giving neighbours a fright because you pop up looking like Shrek doesn't really make for a smooth transition into discussing the weather.

Bonnie still rolled her eyes at the entire concept of having a driver. Her father thought her safety was more important than her feelings on the matter so he'd always shush her when she tried to get him to change his mind and let her drive a car by herself. She supposed he wanted a way to actually spend all the heinous amounts of money he was making, and at the end of the day it was _his_ to spend…She just hated that he was never really a part of any of that.

Pulling out her cell phone she replied to Greta, that yes she was on her way and no, she didn't want to play pool. She wanted fries and a milkshake to dunk them into. Ignoring the host of emoji's she received in response she closed her eyes and sent off some of her thoughts to Sun. When her eyes snapped open, the girl was sitting beside her. Sun was dressed in black jeans and a navy tank top with a fitted leather jacket. Bonnie smiled as she shifted in her seat, adjusting the hem of her turquoise romper.

"I'm glad you're here." She said. Sun leaned back into the leather cushioning.

"I'm glad you called. I need to get out more."

"Definitely." Bonnie smiled. "Lavender's going to be so excited to see you." Sun hummed softly, smiling at the thought.

"I've missed her quite a bit myself."

* * *

When the two witches walked into the establishment, a few people turned to look at them. While witches living openly in the town was general knowledge, it did put the Casters up on some kind of pedestal. Sure, no one tried to bully you when you belonged to the Risen, but they did regard you as 'other' and mostly gave you a wide berth when you passed them in the street. In a weird way it was kind of nice. The acknowledgment without the expectation (or punishment).

The Risen had been the protectors of Mystic Falls since the late 1800s and the people who lived here knew that. It was a part of their history lessons in school and was celebrated during the many ceremonies, balls and parties they held as a community. It was Mystic Falls' claim to fame. It's what made this place the home of over three hundred witches. Only a fraction of those numbers belonged to the Risen. Yet you can bet your last dollar that if anyone tried to bring this town to its knees they'd be burned to dust in a matter of moments by someone like Mrs Francine on Wayne Street. Old lady wouldn't bat an eyelash either.

Bonnie had felt them all only once, and it was when she ascended. When any witch ascends, their auras latch onto their immediate surroundings. And living in a place like Mystic Falls and coming fully into your powers gave you one _hell_ of a high when you tapped into it for the first time. She'd felt every last soul, like hers, responding to her becoming like them. She shuddered at the memory when she reached Greta and Lavender's booth. The little girl's eyes lit up when she saw them coming, and Bonnie laughed and held a hand to her chest when Lavender ran and jumped into Sun's arms.

Sun swung her around and kissed her temple, hitching the girl on her hip as Lavender lay into her with question after question.

"I need to tell you something." Greta said, tugging on Bonnie's hand and moving her some ways a way. Frowning Bonnie opened herself up to the pressure at her temples of Greta trying to show her something. Bonnie tensed as Damon's face filled her vision and Greta replayed their encounter.

 _I just wanted to say goodbye_

It echoed in Bonnie's ears as Greta let her hand go and crossed her arms. "Thought you should know." Re-attaching herself to her body, Bonnie nodded and slipped her smile back in place just in time for Lavender to be deposited in her arms. Sun and Greta hugged and took their seat as Lavender rattled off the things that had happened since she last saw Bonnie.

"When are we having our tea party?"

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Bonnie asked, hitching the girl higher on her hip. Matt brought them menus and smiled at Bonnie, waving at Lavender who blushed at the attention. It only made his smile broaden.

"Can I get you girls anything?" Bonnie looked at Sun and the other girl nodded.

"Two strawberry milkshakes and large fries please." She ordered.

"Coming right up, anything for you V?" He asked the little girl who shook her head with a sweetly murmured, 'no thank you'. He beamed at her and went off to place their order. Her little fingers fiddled with Bonnie's hair as she watched the blonde waiter leave. Bonnie lifted her brows and grinned at her cluster as they watched V in the midst of her first crush.

"I'm starting to think you want to have a tea party with someone _else_." Bonnie pretended to pout. Gasping at the thought, Lavender wrapped her arms around Bonnie's neck and held her close.

"Never, never, never," she promised, adjusting her glasses as she pulled away. "You're my favourite."

"It's 'cause I bring the blueberry muffins, huh?" Bonnie chuckled.

"And Ms Cuddles!" Bonnie kissed her cheek and set her down, wiggling into the booth and helping Lavender into it as well. Sun was across from her, looking much better than she had the last while. Greta folded up Lavender's books and cleared up the crayons that had been cluttering the table to make space for their oncoming drinks. Jonas Martin walked into the Grille, spotted them and lit up in the way only a parent would at the sight of their happy children.

"Daddy!" Lavender bounced out of the booth and hurried over to him.

"I love the way she greets everyone." Sun said, speaking Bonnie's thoughts.

"I know, she's got that thing that everyone wants to come home too." Bonnie agreed. Greta was smiling as she stood up with Lavender's backpack all zipped up and ready to go.

"It's time for your play-date with Ms Honey and Matilda." Lavender took her bag from her older sister and struggled into it with all the determination her little limbs could muster. Putting her hand back in her father's, she hugged the bottom half of Greta's body. Swooping down, Greta peppered Lavender's face with kisses and 'I love you's'. Bonnie looked back at Sun.

"How are things at home?" She asked.

"Annora's called some of the Coven together, that's why Jonas needs Lavender at Matilda's. They're all going to try and figure out what Malachai's deal is." Bonnie nodded. "If someone could do this…and get it right?" Sun's worry melded with Bonnie's own. "Who knows what a spell like that mean for the future ascenders?"

"I hadn't even thought about it like that," Bonnie admitted, "All I was thinking was the consequences it's going to take on Malachai and whoever's nearest to him when he ascends." Understanding flooded Sun's mind and she became grave. "For all we know…Ascending could _kill_ him."

"Suck him right up into the void orbiting his magic." Sun caught on. "Poor kid."

"Here we go ladies." Matt interrupted their heated debate and as he deposited the fries in the middle of the table he lingered, bringing Bonnie's gaze up to him.

"It's good to see you around Bon," Matt said, instantly making her think of their shared childhood memories when she wasn't being raised in the world of the Risen. "I was worried."

"I'm okay now," She said with a passable smile he seemed to buy, "It's good to see you too."

"Don't be a stranger." Matt said before going back to work. Greta slid into the booth and sighed and jigged her shoulders a bit.

"I feel like _doing_ something today." She said as the other two sipped happily at their drinks. "Something exciting."

"You always say that." Sun said with a small smile.

"It's like us doing normal hang-outy stuff isn't enough for you." Bonnie poked.

"We hang out all the time," Greta countered, tapping a finger to her temple, "We never do fun stuff." She griped with a bit of a sulk jutting out her bottom lip. Sun shot a drolly stare Bonnie's way and they both laughed.

"What would you like to do?" Bonnie asked, making a show of folding her hands on the table and giving Greta her undivided attention.

"I'm glad you asked –" She splayed her hands out but her words died on her lips when someone interrupted them.

"Bonnie?" Three sets of eyes cut to Stefan Salvatore who was speed-walking to them. Elena was hurrying after, looking like she always did – like her world was on the brink of Oblivion. "Bonnie, I need to talk to you." Greta made the loud sound of a buzzer and Sun's back posture went rigid. Stefan, either purposefully oblivious or too worried to take in his surroundings, bugged his eyes out at her like that was all it took for her compliance.

"Hey," Greta snapped her fingers at him to get her attention. "Now is not the time for your dramatics. Can't you see we're in the middle of something?" Elena and Stefan looked at the three of them, the milkshakes and fries, thinking they were missing some kind of punchline. Damon had just up and left in the middle of their plan saying something about Bonnie – who knew what he was about to screw up.

"This is impor –"

"It always is with you." Sun said, causing Stefan to frown, he'd never so much as heard her speak before this moment. "If it's so life or death why not just go to Annora?" _Good question_ , Bonnie thought.

"If you don't mind," Elena spoke up, diverting the attention onto her, "This is between us and Bonnie." Bonnie didn't bother opening her mouth to respond. Sun's smile was slick with disbelief as she laughed under her breath.

"No such thing," Greta waved an annoyed hand. "You might never have taken the time to consider a witch as something _other_ than your get-out-of-jail free card but that's not really how it works with us."

"They want to know where Damon is." The Korean witch said, pursing her lips as she looked to Bonnie. Bonnie's irritation latched onto hers and swirled around Greta's frustration. Anyone with enough sense between their ears would have picked up on the shift in the atmosphere and high-tailed it – _but no_ …

"I think I've made a point of never knowing where he is." The Bennett witch finally spoke. Looking up at Stefan, "You sure he's not just lodged up Elena's ass somewhere?"

" _Seriously,_ Bonnie? –" Elena's exasperation did it. Greta's magic tightened around the doppelgänger's throat and squeezed. Only for a second before she remembered herself and where they were. Stefan had just heard Elena's gasp when Greta's magic released her. Elena gripped her throat and looked so hurt in that moment that it made Bonnie want to laugh.

In the face of everything Bonnie had done for Elena, this was hardly a slap on the wrist. Greta's actions were a warning, a foreshadowing of what would happen if they kept at it. An expression Bonnie could never admit to ever having seen on Stefan's face blossomed across the vampire's features. It was fear; at least the first _inkling_ of it. An understanding between one animal and another; once they'd weighed up their strengths and weakness, making a tally of who would survive if it came down to it. This look on Stefan's face right now was him realising that he'd come off second best. Bonnie smirked at his realisation. Schooling her features into blankness she locked her malachite eyes on Elena.

" _Seriously_ Elena."

"Well, when he comes to you, just tell him we're looking for him." Deflated and sullen, the couple left the building. Rolling her eyes Bonnie went back to slurping her drink.

"Exciting enough for you?" Sun asked after a moment of silence. The three of them burst out laughing.

* * *

… _Dead_

 _Her –_

 _Fuck._

 _Grams, her_ Grams _was –_

 _Katherine's wolfish grin was slick with Sheila's blood and it shot through Bonnie like an arrow to the heart. Where were the rest of them?_

 _Pain, a blinding, desensitizing pain threatened to replace the marrow of her bones with lead. But it was that glimmer in Katherine's eyes. That twinkle, that made Bonnie think of Elena in that moment. While Katherine's malice was never Elena's forte, it was that goddamn sparkle in the bitch's eyes that made Bonnie's magic implode. A guttural howl from Bonnie's lips created a vortex of wind, sending leaves, twigs and electricity oscillating around two of them._

" _Ooh," Katherine giggled, "_ Witchy _." Bonnie didn't bother responding. She wanted to see how long that stupid smirk stayed on the vampire's face._

" _Ardebit." Bonnie growled out between her clenched teeth. "Ar-de-bit." She screamed. Raising her hands as she focused on Katherine's flesh, a sick satisfaction ruled her being as the vampire's form began to burn. Wasting no time Bonnie launched a second attack. "Pati!" She cried out, her spell punctuated by a shrill scream breaking through Katherine's already loud protesting. Bonnie made sure the pressure only increased inside of Katherine's throbbing skull "Frangeretur." The witch heaved as she cleared the space between their bodies; Katherine's now writhing on the floor as her bones broke through the surface of her skin and clothes they were pulled at so roughly, "Frangeretur." Her voice shook as Bonnie's muscles throbbed to keep inflicting pain._

 _So she did._

 _Pulling out the drop-point knife she had strapped to her leg she wasted no time stabbing it into Katherine's heart. "Convertimini ad pulverem." She chanted; lifting her arms above her head and sinking the knife back into the demon's heart. "Convertimini ad pulverem."_

" _Bonnie, no!" Stefan's voice, appearing out of nowhere, called to her. She was too far gone. Not far enough to reach her Grams though, she'd have to be dead for that. The thought alone sent a zap of power to Stefan's neck. Twisting it and dropping him like a bag of bones to the floor. Elena, who'd been running after him, dropped to her knees at his side. Her blind panic on his temporary incapacitation leaving Bonnie free to do as she pleased._

 _Bonnie twisted the knife into the mass of blood and bone under her, cracking the sternum and breaking the last few whole parts of Katherine's burning form. "Convertimini. Ad. Pulverem." Bonnie screamed at the flailing body under her. The fire burned and sparked on, neither scalding or so much as flickering over the witch's skin. Her magic obeyed her, willed the very atoms of the vampire's corpse to turn to dust under the weight of her murderous gaze. Katherine's ashes were swept up into the ongoing storm of Bonnie's power and she pulled it all back inside of her; the pain, the power until the wind was snuffed out… leaving an eerie stillness in its wake._

 _Elena's voice was a wobbling whimper when she called out to her friend. But Bonnie was in a daze._

 _Her grandmother was dead._

 _And in her haste to seek vengeance she'd gone and signed her own death certificate. Because now Klaus would be coming for her head. Her head and Elena's blood._

 _In one of the cellars, unbeknownst to Bonnie, Damon was thrashing against the bars of the cell. Screaming for her, his brother,_ anyone _to let him out. Stefan had thought he wouldn't have been able to stand by and have Katherine turned human (what with him having dedicated his vampire lifetime to seeking the bitch out and ending her himself) so he'd vervained Damon and stuck him in the basement._

 _Damon couldn't fight the feeling – Bonnie needed him, and he couldn't. Get. To. Her. Fracturing his shoulder, then his arm, and then popping his one socket out of place, he eventually gave in to his circumstance and slid down the bricked wall._

What if Bonnie died tonight? _The thought struck him once more and filled his bones with fire; launching him upright and against the magically reinforced cells again. To no avail._

* * *

 **A/N:** And there we have it my loves, the first true flashback to what really went down with Bonnie, Elena and the Salvatore brothers. Are things coming into focus yet? Don't worry, they will. Reviews let me know I'm not just sitting here, talking to myself (though, it wouldn't be the first time :P) XO


	5. Breakfast

**The Arsonist's Lullabye**

Later that same afternoon Bonnie and her cluster invited the Parker twins over to Bonnie's house. The short witch led the group into her dance studio in the right wing of the second floor. It's varnished wooden floorboards gave rhythm to their footsteps as they made their way inside.

"We just wanted to show you some of the things we're going to be practicing with you over the next few days," Bonnie explained as Sun and Greta flanked her. Jo and Malachai took their seats. "Think of this as _Spell-Casting 101_." They nodded in understanding. "Jo, we wanted you to be here as well; so that you can understand your brother a little more. Just like he's about to come to understand himself."

"Okay." She nodded and crossed her legs, looking set to whip out a notebook and a pen. The three witches snapped their fingers, changed instantly into their black training gear. Jo's only response was a surprised flutter of her eyelashes and a swallow. She was going to have to get used to a lot more than this.

" _Okay_." Bonnie said softly with a smile. "First things first. _Control_." Greta took her cue and stepped forward.

"The main catalyst to any kind of power is emotion," she explained. "Sometimes, the only way you manage to cast a spell is because of your intense need to cast it. Other times," she began walking back and forth as she spoke, "It's those very same emotions that inhibit your magic."

"How do I know the difference?" Malachai spoke up. Greta's smile was radiant.

"That's the key to it. You need to be able to control how intensely you feel things in the heat of the moment, so to speak." Greta took her place between Bonnie and Sun. "You need to be in constant pursuit of your goal – the _success_ of the spell. You need to get to the balance of all of it; what you're feeling, where you are, who you're with…You need to internalise all of that and express it through yourself so that you're the one in control. It's not so much about _what_ you're feeling, but how _well_ you're able to feel it and how this applies to your situation. For example –"

She dropped gracefully down into the lotus position and closed her eyes. Bonnie and Sun took a few wide steps away from her and dropped into offensive stances. Malachai swallowed. "Even with your eyes closed and your focus on one thing in particular," a lily appeared and hovered in front of Greta's face, "You still need to be able to protect yourself." Bonnie flicked her wrist and sent a curling ball of fire toward the flower as she muttered _ignis_ under her breath. Greta gave no outward reaction but the ball veered off course and swirled upward; dispersing to smoke. "But sometimes, you need to decide what's more important," Sun narrowed her eyes and her body disappeared, only to reappear within Greta's reach, her foot swinging around to connect with the sitting witch's head.

A wall slammed into her and sent her careening backward, but she executed a perfect somersault and landed with a low thud on the floor. Bonnie used Sun's distraction to send a _conterat_ spell at the flower. Its stem bent at an angle and Greta huffed in annoyance, righting the stem and sending a low wall of magic at Bonnie. Bonnie grinned and ran at the luminescent barrier headed for her. Using her momentum and the propulsion of her magic she flipped up and over the thing, twirling her fingers and looking over her shoulder in time to see it shatter and dissipate after she'd landed.

"A witch is always tasked with two things," Greta went on, her voice still as calm and low as the other two sent spell after spell toward the flower, which she thwarted with ease, "Guarding your life is paramount, but second to that is the spell." Soon Bonnie and Sun were just blurs around Greta who seemed suspended in a time lapse. The flower hovered, sizzled here, warped there, but always returned to its form under Greta's command. "And when it comes down to it," Greta's eyes snapped open, their dark brown churning around the pupil as she held Malachai's gaze. He was, for lack of a better phrase _spell-bound_ as he watched her curls billow around her face. "Know what's worth saving." Sun used her speed and jumped over Greta's head; doing a one-handed cartwheel in doing so, grabbing the lily mid-air. Only her fingers closed around a projection of the object. The image flickered and vanished. "Always be in pursuit of your goal." Greta said, lifting the flower from her lap with a giggle.

"You _always_ do that." Sun tisked. Bonnie laughed as Greta threw the lily at Sun's face only to have it disappear into thin air before reaching the girl's nose. Sticking her tongue out Sun helped Greta to her feet. All three turned to Malachai and snickered at his open-hanging mouth. Jo's eyes were wide and she looked like she was trying to form a word.

"Whoa." Came the eventual simultaneous response.

* * *

Damon had a plan. And for once in his god-forsaken life it had nothing to do with Katherine Pierce or his stupid brother. Or even Elena Gilbert for that matter. As he knocked on the door he felt the long-forgotten rush of anxiousness riddle his brain with doubt. Brushing it all aside he put on his best smile (not smirk) as the door swung open.

"Mrs Francine?" Damon asked. The older woman was cleaning her hands on a dish cloth that she threw over her shoulder while she narrowed her grey eyes at the stranger on her doorstop.

"It's official," The woman heaved in her tired lilting voice, "I've gone and lived too long."

"I only need a moment of your time." He began, holding his palms out at her. She scrunched her mouth up in disbelief but waved her hand at him to continue.

"Better make it quick," she said with the sternness of the elderly whose time orbited around re-runs and whatever was rising in the oven. "My son will be home soon and he don't take kindly to your species."

"I don't doubt that," Damon agreed, "I just need your help with something." She opened her mouth to refuse but he was quick to add, "It's for Bonnie Bennett." The woman's understanding bought him some time he could tell.

"That girl has gone through hell," Mrs Francine sighed as silver tendrils of her hair swung around her square face. "I don't see what a vampire could do to fix something he no doubt had a hand in starting."

"I'm trying to find her mother actually," Damon explained, "I'm trying to make it right."

"How do you expect to get that right? With _me_ no less?" The woman managed to growl the words despite her dainty demeanour. So it was true then, the temperament of any witch was not one to be trifled with. He hadn't expected her to be _docile_ , he was never that naïve.

"I just need to find Abby. I need to find _Abby_ so that I can start making things right with _Bonnie_." Sensing a story and having firm faith in her ability to defend herself, Mrs Francine wiped her hands on her apron and stepped out of her home. She hadn't had this much excitement since that tea party Sheila had thrown in her back yard. And that was too long ago, and too many bad things had happened since to justify such trivialities.

"This better be good Salvatore," She wagged a finger at him, Damon smiling despite himself and sat next to her on her porch swing. "If you tell me what happened and I feel that you're doing the right thing, I'll help you."

"That's all I ask ma'am." Damon said as they stared out into Wayne street as the world moved around them. They both knew that with her magic and knowledge she'd be able to gauge a hell of a lot more than a lie on his part; so he was about to be very candid in his quest to get to Bonnie's mother.

"When I first met her, Bonnie," he began without preamble, "I was…I wasn't in a very good place." She hummed unsurprised. "My brother and I had been pawns in a game our Maker had made a life out of playing. She toyed with our hearts, going so far as to compel my brother in his human state to love her, despite my already obvious devotion." Mrs Francine took note of the change in his cadence, the way his eyes went out of focus as he recounted his origin story. "When she convinced each of us to turn, in private of course, we both thought ourselves on the cusp of a happily ever after." He shook his head sadly, "We couldn't have been more wrong. And Katherine was lucky she even got away with turning two humans," he noted with a raised finger, "But these were the days when the first of the Risen were overthrowing the council, so the respective parties had their hands full and of course neither of us were going to say anything about Katherine. Not the woman we loved. Never."

"Anyway, so once we'd transitioned, him before me…She brought Stefan into the room as his memories came back to him. How she'd forced into him into a state of compliance. And it only took one look at his vein-riddled face to know what she'd done. My first instinct was confusion. Why my brother as well? How did he fit into our forever? And then I saw this look on his face…The same one when the doctor's told us our mother had died and he'd seen my anger for the first time."

"That same fear, that same hurt, sympathy, affinity…Katherine started to laugh. That's when she explained that it was all a game to her and that she was leaving. She'd only been using us as a temporary hide out from this Original Vampire hunting her down. She left, she left us like that. Exposed the worst versions of ourselves, brought light to our every flaw. Both within ourselves and our relationship with the other, our father…It was a lot to take in, especially given the circumstance."

"People died didn't they?" She asked softly, Damon nodded, slowly.

"Too many. We were too angry, with each other, with ourselves and how quickly our lives had been turned upside down. That's when our fights started. Stefan because he couldn't understand how I could have willingly loved her, and me because…I'm a selfish volatile demon. I didn't like that everything I'd shared of myself was the punchline to someone's sick joke."

"Fast forward to years of me hunting down this bi – uh, my Maker to get revenge. Petty, _sure_. But those kinds of things consume you when you have the idea of forever looming over your head."

"Is there where Bonnie comes in?" Damon nodded.

"Yes. It turns out the Original Vampire hunting Katherine down had picked up on me doing the same thing. So when I came to Mystic Falls, following Stefan, this Original, Klaus, followed me as well."

" _Mikaelson_." Francine said with a knowing bite to her tone.

"The one and only," Damon said, "That's when we discovered Klaus' plan. He'd been bound by magic so strong, his mother's it turned out, inhibiting him from becoming the first Hybrid were-vampire."

"That goddamn spell Abby was turned to _undo_?" Mrs Francine gasped.

"That's the one." Damon said lowering his head, "We'd planned to make Katherine human and hand her over to Klaus and wash our hands of both of them."

"Why didn't that work?"

"A few things. One, Katherine is as stealthy as they come. Two, my brother always thinks that he knows best and that he knows _me_." Damon huffed in annoyance at the fact. "He left me bound in one of the Boarding House's spelled cells. That was the night Sheila died because Katherine tried to kill Bonnie when she figured out what was going on."

"Didn't Bonnie kill her?" A bitter smile; made of pride and regret curled Damon's bottom lip.

"She did." Was all he said. He took a deep breath and exhaled. "That's also when we were back at square one, because Klaus still needed a witch to cast the unbinding spell, and now needed _Elena's_ blood because she's Katherine's doppelgänger –"

"Elena? Elena _Gilbert_?"

"Elena _Petrova_ ," Damon corrected her, "My brother's girlfriend," Mrs Francine cut her eyes to Damon then, "Don't ask. So then Abby appears out of nowhere and offers herself up to do the spell, I mean, No one really explained to me why Abby had to die–"

"She was supposed to be the next High Priestess –"

"–But it saved Bonnie's life and that brings us full circle. _I_ want to find Abby so that I can somehow fix all of this."

"But wait, doesn't Klaus still need Elena's blood? Why has no one told the Risen about this?"

"We thought Bonnie could help us, and instead, we just ruined her life."

"Sounds about right." The elderly witch muttered, feeling the stirrings of loyalty to her kind brew a distaste toward the creature next to her.

" _Look_. I cared about keeping Elena alive for all the wrong reasons. She was the closure my brother and I needed. But we both wanted it at the same time and that…that quickly led us back down a path neither of us were sure we even left to begin with. But I," he wiped at his face in aggravation, "I don't care about that anymore. I want Elena to be safe, of course, but after Bonnie turned me away the last time I realised that… I don't _care_."

"About who now?" Mrs Francine wondered.

"About Elena, Katherine, my brother, any of it. I know I'm late to realising any of this, but, I need to help Bonnie. I need to keep _Bonnie_ safe. And I want to be a part of the reason why she'll be happy again one day."

"It's the least you can do." She quipped.

"That's why I'm here," Damon looked her dead on, "I need to find Abby. I need to get Bonnie's mother back into a place where she can be around her daughter. I need to bring whatever's salvageable of Bonnie's life back together and back to her." The woman held his gaze fearlessly, sceptically and little by little he watched as her resolve shifted and moved, she wanted to help Bonnie as much as he did.

"I'll help you." She said. "But I'm doing it on _my_ terms." She said firmly.

"Whatever it takes." Damon swore.

* * *

"Stefan?" He closed his eyes in resignation at the sound of her voice. It seemed to bounce off of the walls of the rest of the vacant estate. Damon was gone. Zach and his wife had long left to start their family in peace. Stefan had wanted isolation for so long, but having it finally, and at this specific moment made him livid instead of relieved.

Damon was supposed to convince Bonnie to charm the necklace Stefan gave to Elena to give them all a fraction of peace of mind. Instead he'd returned empty handed and distracted. The next thing they knew he'd disappeared saying he needed to see Bonnie. Stefan hadn't stopped calling his number. "Stefan?"

"I can hear you." He sighed and he knew without looking that her mouth had turned down at the corners at his tone. She came to sit next to him and it took everything in him not to tense under her soft touch as she ran her hand across his back, trying to soothe him.

"He'll come back." She said, Stefan snorted at that. He couldn't help himself.

"You don't know that," his voice was low and sure, "And you don't know _him_." She was frowning when he turned to meet her eyes.

"I know that he cares even though he'd never admit it," Elena countered, "I know that he's only become this person because of what happened to him. What happened to the _both_ of you." She tucked a ribbon of her hair behind her ear, one of the things he'd come to adore about her. "That's why I didn't believe him when he said he was the bad brother, when you said it wasn't safe to care about him –"

"Because it never was for _me_ ," Stefan cut her off, his eyes hard as they stared her down, "But I guess it was inevitable. How could he not love you, you know?" She jerked back with a shocked gasp at his insinuation. "You're a reminder of what he could have had, if it had been you and not Katherine."

"Stefan, _stop_ –"

"And you would have picked him. _Hands down_. Damon, when we were human, before all of it – he was everything I wanted, everything I _needed_ in a brother. And a heart like that would have been perfect for yours."

"But he's not _like_ that anymore, and it's not his heart I want Stefan – it's _yours_." He nodded, but his smile was hollow.

"And you have it." He assured her. "To the extent that all it does is make me think of my blind loyalty to Katherine while she was compelling me to love her." Elena's breath left her in a gust, like he'd hit her in the stomach.

" _How could_ …How could you even _say_ that?" She stammered, those tears lining the bottom of her lashes right on cue.

"And how could you _kiss_ him and think I'd never find out?" He yelled in her face. Her rapid heartbeat was all that followed. Her mouth was agape, her eyes like saucers.

"St-Stefan, I was –"

" _Scared_?" He filled in for her, "High on adrenaline and angst? Or following in the steps of the woman before you?" Her hand flew to cover her heart, the slap of his words leaving her speechless. Stefan shook his head and looked away. "And yet, I still love you. And you still love me. _Why_?"

"Because that's our _fate_ , Stefan." She said in a rush, closing the space between them and taking his hands in hers, forging on when he yanked his own away. "I'm sorry I kissed him. I don't know why I did that, I –"

"Damon has spent his whole life thinking that he was undeserving of requited love, but that's not the case. It's just his terrible luck that the love he's sought out has been from people who don't deserve _it_."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that maybe I deserve this," his hand gestures were swift and terrifying, "Maybe in some sick twisted way, the two of you – you and Katherine – have been brought to us as some kind of punishment from another life."

"Stefan," she scoffed, "That's dramatic, even for you."

"Is it? Why would I constantly be the only thing stopping someone from loving my brother and why would Damon be drawn to two of you specifically?"

"I don't know," Elena threw her arms out, "Maybe as a human Damon wanted what Katherine offered him and now as a vampire he –"

"Wants what _you're_ offering him."

"Stefan, that's not –"

"It doesn't matter. It makes sense doesn't it?" She sank back into the plush fabric of the seat under them and rubbed her temples. They let the silence simmer around them before Elena finally spoke up.

"I don't know if you'll ever forgive me, or if we'll ever move past it. But, _look at me_ ," she pulled his face to hers and held his jaw firmly with her long fingers, " _I love_ _you_. I _want_ you and I'm choosing and I'll _continue_ to choose you every day after this one."

"Okay." Was all he said. It was better than nothing.

"… _Okay_."

* * *

Abigail Bennett was many things. A 'morning person' however, was not one of them. Not that he cared. He had her up and dressed as the sun rose, knowing how little she cared for it.

"Every morning I tell you how much I hate this." She grumbled, wiping the sleep out of her eyes as he set a mug of warm blood down in front of her.

"And every morning we do it any way." He smiled. She pushed her fringe away from her face and sat up straight. She could admit that when Elijah first appeared on her front porch she wanted nothing more than to swipe his head clean off of his shoulders. Tilting the mug toward herself she eyed it out skeptically…things had changed since then.

"Who did you get this from?" She asked. Pulling at the cuffs of his pressed shirt (lord alone knew where he found the time to even _do_ that) he rested the flats of his wrists at the edge of the table between them.

"Same place I always get it from," he lifted his regal brows at her with a small smile worming onto his expression. "The hospital." She narrowed her left eye and smiled at him.

"Soon I'm going to be able to tell the difference, and I'll know whether you've been lying or not." She said taking a quick sip.

"Well, we have until then to get you to trust that I am in fact telling the truth. Of your own volition of course."

"Of course," she echoed with a soft laugh. "Go easy on me today?" She asked hopefully. Lifting his own mug to his lips he leaned back into the wooden chair underneath, managing to make the moment look worthy of a photo shoot. Dark brown eyes connected with Abby's own and she felt the atmosphere shift around them.

" _Never_." He winked.

* * *

 **A/N:** Before anyone PMs me or tries to check my pulse over the internets, I'm taking some time off for my own work and won't be posting until December. That doesn't mean you shouldn't leave me dramatic reviews (which are my fave by the way) or check in on which stories I'll be updating when I'm back, message me whenever and be sure to review this story if you liked it/hated it/rolled your eyes/squealed aloud. ALSO, I will explain EVERYTHING in chapter seven (the whole thing will be a flashback followed by some serious show-down-ing, it's gonna rock your socks off)

Stay excellent XO


	6. Greta-Day

Oh yes, it is time.

* * *

 **The Arsonist's Lullabye**

Damon was holding his breath as he watched Mrs Francine dangle Abby's necklace over a map as she chanted under her breath. He'd stolen it while Bonnie was at school; having intimate knowledge with all of the security system's loopholes. A part of him was pleased that she hadn't barred him from entering her house.

Slowly the pendant's rough jade crystal began swinging and narrowing in one specific area. Damon's blue eyes lit up as he let his hope show, licking his lips he watched the circumference grow smaller and smaller until it stopped. Latching onto the magnetic pull of the spell, the tip of the crystal pointed down to his destination. When he looked up at the old woman his smile was bright.

" _Go_." She nodded and he vanished in a gust of wind. As she settled back onto the weight of her free hand, she eyed out the charm. She was out in her backyard with the map brushing her knees. Damon appeared again, looking bashful. A mumbled laugh escaped her as she held the jewellery out to him.

"Thank you." He said for the umpteenth time before vanishing again.

"Ah," Mrs Francine tipped her head back and let the sunlight wash over her skin, "To be loved like that." Her eyes snapped open. "Dang it, the cookies are toast by now."

* * *

Monday came and there was no new news regarding Malachai's situation, which only worried Bonnie and her cluster more. As she and Sun walked onto campus, both girls were in a fairly good mood all things considered. These were rare days when Greta's disposition won over their usual sullenness and they liked to revel in it as often as possible. They each had one of Sun's earbuds in their ear as they walked in perfect synchronisation through the parking lot. Bonnie was smiling and had a skip in her step that matched the melody. Sun was bobbing her head a little as she sang the lyrics.

" _I ran out of luck_ ," she grinned, " _I fucked up…and nothing's gonna change that_ –"

" _Whoa- ooh_." They sang at the same time and burst into giggles. Greta hopped out from behind a car with her hands splayed.

" _Ooh- ooh, ooh-ooh, dancing on quicksand_." She danced as they walked up to her. The three hugged all at once and pulled their respective earphones out.

"Such a great song." Bonnie commented. Greta wiggled her brows.

"Thought you girls might like it." They looked at each other burst and out laughing at their matching outfits. "It's _so_ Greta-Day today." The taller witch was triumphant in her yellow high-waisted shorts and loose white tank top that she'd tucked in in the front, letting its longer tail hang over the back. Bonnie was in yellow fitted baby-doll dress with a white collar and long sleeves, wearing ballet flats. It had Greta written all over it. Sun ruffled her fringe with an eye-roll as she plucked at her skin-tight yellow tank dress she'd paired with white Tomy sneakers.

"We look like the makings of a girl-band." Sun sighed as Bonnie threw an arm over her shoulder, tugging her to the main entrance of the building.

"A very _cool_ girl band," Greta said as she walked on the other side of Sun, throwing her arm over the shorter girl's shoulder as well. "All other girl bands are super jealous and we haven't even written a song yet."

"You're in a great mood." Bonnie noted with a grin as they stepped into the hallway.

"The _sun_ is out, the _Rising Moon_ ball is this weekend, which _yes_ Bonnie and Sun my darlings means we have to go _shopping_ this afternoon." Bonnie and Sun groaned in tandem. "Oh shush," Greta waved her free hand, "You're both bitching in vain. Just give in already."

"Fine." Sun muttered, "Just no more yellow."

"You should wear something maroon, Sun." Bonnie said as they neared her locker. As she got the books she needed Sun looked to Greta with so much dread in her eyes it made the taller witch laugh and wrinkle her nose with affection as she pulled Sun into a hug.

"It's going to be amazing Bak," Greta promised, "And Bonnie's right. Maroon suites you."

"I don't care about the dress," the Korean witch griped, "People are going to try to _talk_ to me."

"And you're going to talk to _them_." Bonnie said as she closed her locker and re-joined them as they made their way to Sun and Greta's lockers.

"And we'll _dance_ and _chant_ and there'll be cute _boys_." Greta clasped her hands together as she sighed happily. "It's what we all need if you ask me."

"Why do we encourage her?" Sun looked to Bonnie who laughed and shrugged as she chewed on red liquorice.

"We love her or something I guess."

* * *

The _Rising Moon_ was one of many celebratory Mystic Falls balls where the town's witches were honoured. Greta adored them and saw them for what they were; a way to remember everything her Coven-Ancestors had overcome to make her life what it was. Sun saw it as an endless pit of social-encounters she could live without and Bonnie saw it as another reminder of her Grams.

Sheila had been in her prime prior to her death. She was everything a High Priestess was meant to be; an open-armed mother who could be both firm and forgiving. Both a blazing flame and a warm embrace. Sheila's parties were famous for their decorations, their food and the swirling coalescing power that enveloped and brought out the best in the atmosphere of the events. She threw one _hell_ of a party.

This year Annora had been tasked with organising everything and had doled out everyone's duties accordingly. Annora's own cluster was in charge of food and drink while Greta was left at the helm of decorations and music, Sun in charge of the flyers and general run-through of the night. Bonnie of course, having been mid-breakdown wasn't even spoken to about the event. And now she had to swallower her pride and put on a brave face as she spoke to each member of her Coven and apologised for everything she put them through.

"I should probably just go in my training gear," Bonnie muttered as she struggled with the convoluted straps of the dress Greta had shoved in her hands. "Seeing as I'm going to get dragged from one end of Annora's courtyard to the other by the Coven." She felt Sun's mild amusement at her comment and could see clearly as Greta huffed and crossed her arms, tapping her foot on the floor as she waited for them to emerge in their first options.

"Less whining, more twirling." Greta said, eyeing out more items as she stood in front of the changing rooms. "We still have to pick something for me."

"You know exactly what you're wearing." Bonnie said.

"We know it's the lilac shoulder-less chiffon thing you told the lady to put aside for you, so you can stop pretending."

"I like the illusion of choice," Greta giggled with an impatient wave of her hand. "And stop deflecting I happen to know you're both dressed." Grumbling at the lack of coverage afforded by each of their dresses, the other two witches emerged and Greta, having a penchant for such dramatics, held her hands to her chest and gasped. "You two look, beautiful!" She gushed, "Like _more_ beautiful than normal. Like, jaws-will-drop, and hearts-will- _break_ beautiful."

"I can't breathe." Bonnie wheezed as she wriggled around in the skin-tight champagne ensemble. Sun looked bored.

"I'd rather be in pyjamas." She muttered earning a glare from Greta.

"No pyjamas!" Greta quipped as she shooed Sun back into the changing room, "And you're buying that maroon dress or I'm spelling it to your skin permanently. And _you_ ," she turned her almond shaped brown eyes on the grouchy green-eyed witch. "Stop complaining, how did we even find a size too small for you? They don't even have a kid's section here." Bonnie scoffed.

"Hilarious," Bonnie rolled her eyes and stepped back into the changing room. "I'm not wearing this; I might as well roll myself in paint and waltz around naked."

"Not a bad idea," Greta winked, laughing at Bonnie's alarmed face that shot out between the velvet curtains. "Oh lighten up Bennett, we'll find something soon enough."

"…Hello." Greta spun around at the sound of the girl's sweet voice.

"Jo, hi!" Greta pulled her into a quick hug that Jo only made to reciprocate when it was already over. But looking at the witch's broad smile she didn't linger on her awkwardness, instead she gestured to the dresses around them.

"Malachai's making me pick something out for the _Rising Moon_ this weekend."

" _Jo don't do it_ –" Bonnie called out from the changing room. Jo's head snapped in her direction in surprise.

"Ignore her." Greta laughed and clapped her hands together. "You came to the right place." Jo smiled and crooked her arm through Greta's proffered limb and they made their way down the aisles.

"… _Oh my god_." Sun cackled emerging from the changing room in her own clothes, the dress draped over her arm. Bonnie snickered as she stepped out and high-fived her. "Greta never laughs at our jokes." Sun sighed, taking Bonnie's dress from her hands and placing it back on the nearest rack. "I never want to see that dress again."

"You and me both." Bonnie huffed. "Let's see if there's anything green."

About two hours later, they had all picked out a dress they didn't roll their eyes at and were walking through one of three of the town's thriving parks. Jo and Sun were comparing their taste in films, finding they had a mutual love for Anime while they slurped on ice tea. Greta and Bonnie brought up the rear, sipping on iced coffees while Bonnie prodded at the Martin witch's feelings regarding a certain ascending warlock.

"Am not –" Greta harrumphed for the umpteenth time.

"Are too," Bonnie hissed, "You are _so_ crushing on him!"

"I've been around him, what? Three times now?" Bonnie batted her lashes and swooned dramatically.

"Isn't it _romantic_?" Bonnie exclaimed putting on a southern accent. Greta hushed her, with a glare unable to hold any serious intent as Bonnie fell into a fit of giggles at her obvious reaction. "Just 'fess up. I'm the last person who'll judge you." Greta stared back drolly.

"It's not even like that," Greta sighed, "I mean yes, he's hot in that understated sneaky way. Like, the longer you look at him the more he appeals to you kind of thing? I don't know, but right now, my main priority when it comes to him –"

"Is to stare at him and forget how to breathe?"

"Shut up," Greta shoved at her shoulder lightly, "It's to help him with his magic. I don't know, I can feel it on him in quick bursts. It's like hearing the howl of an injured animal." Bonnie became serious as she nodded. She'd felt it too.

"Sun and I have sensed it as well around him," Bonnie added on, "Something inside of him was broken because of what they did to him and Jo before they were born."

"But who would _do_ something like that?" Greta wondered aloud, the same thing they'd all been thinking for some time. "Who would try and suck the magic out of unborn witches? And _why_?"

* * *

Damon Salvatore prided himself on his unflappability. In fact, he'd mastered his cool to the point that he'd perfected the art of his own unpredictability so that in turn, no one else was afforded the same luxury as he. And yet, there he stood, on the porch of one Abigail Bennett, with his jaw moments from reaching the floor.

"Hello Damon." Elijah was as suave and blasé as ever, rolling up the sleeves of his button down as he looked up the elder Salvatore through his lashes. "What brings you to these parts?"

"Abby?" Damon called out, instinct kicking in. He was too late. He'd been focused on the wrong things for too long and now Bonnie's mother was being held captive by the same vampire who'd turned her for his brother's cause. " _Abby_!" He yelled. Elijah pursed his lips, unimpressed. Wild cerulean eyes met the equable dark gaze of the Original. "What did you do with her?" Damon demanded.

"Who is that?" Abby's voice called out from somewhere inside the house. Her voice was muffled and Damon wasted no time or thought on his actions. Shoving past Elijah, who did nothing but raise a brow at his impropriety. Elijah turned calmly, looking after the younger vampire who flashed into the house.

"I told you we should get a human to sign the lease on this house." Elijah's bored voice called out to Damon and Abby in the living room as he clicked the front door shut after him. Damon's panic screeched to a halt, a boundless confusion taking its place. Abby was sitting, cross-legged on her sofa, a curtain of noodles hanging from her lips as she chewed. "Now, we have _this_ to deal with." Setting her carton of take-out down and swallowing the mouthful she'd had, Abby stood to her feet with narrowed eyes at their guest.

"What the hell?" Damon hissed.

"I'm pretty sure that's my line." Abby said with a raised brow. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help make things right." Damon exhaled, feeling an odd sensation wash over him. A loose awkwardness that he didn't know what to do with. His plan had been so solid in his mind. "I wanted to help you come into your vampirism so that you could come back home, be with Bonnie." Abby's face hardened.

"What is it with you vampires?" She sighed, running a hand through her waves, "It's no secret what you did to my daughter and …what? You expected me to see this half-assed plan as your way of apologising?" She sent her hands to her hips. "Like I wouldn't have dedicated my every hour to overcoming what I am now to be a part of Bonnie's life again?" Damon swallowed and backtracked as he evaluated everything afresh.

"Okay but that doesn't explain what _he's_ doing here." Damon pointed to where he sensed the Original looming somewhere behind him. "He is the one who turned you after all." Abby nodded, her gaze flickering to and from Elijah's face before she addressed Damon again. The Salvatore vampire knew the look had meant something, he just hoped it wasn't a bad something. His suspicion had begun to rise again.

"Well, according to him he's here to finally forge a path of his own," Abby said with a distracted wave of her hand, "That, and I'm the first vampire he's ever sired. So he thought he'd try his hand at parenting."

"That's hardly what I've been doing." Elijah said smoothly. The innuendo grated against Damon's patience.

"So he's basically here to do what I came here to do?" Damon surmised.

"Looks like it." Abby said with a shrug and the shift of her skin against her clothing caused Damon to still. He'd know that scent _anywhere_. Abby's eyes snapped to his when she heard his slow inhale, watching him as his eyes widened along with the flare of his nostrils. It was faint and fleeting but he latched onto it and honed in on the sensations it stirred up in him.

" _Magic_." He breathed. "You still smell like magic. _Bennett magic_." Abby's eyes went to Elijah's and before Damon could react or even think to, his vision was swallowed up with black.

* * *

Greta had offered to drive Jo home so when they pulled up outside the house the girl turned to say thank you.

"Are you okay?" Greta asked, cutting her off before she could even speak. "And before you frown and stammer something along the lines of an excuse I'd like to remind you that I'm a witch. I just _know_ these things." Jo closed her mouth and looked out ahead of them through the windscreen of the Jeep.

"Bonnie said to me, the other day," her brows were pressed together as she turned to Greta, "She said I was supposed to be a witch too. Is that true?" Greta nodded.

"The connection twins make in the womb is perpetuated by magic. Twins who've inherited their ancestral magic means that the power is divvied up evenly. Ergo, yes, you were both supposed to be born with magic." Jo was chewing her bottom lip as she tried to form what she actually wanted to ask. Tilting her head Greta lifted her mouth in a lopsided smile as she patted Jo's hand as it rested atop her thigh. "Look," she turned her body as much as she could as she was still in her seatbelt and locked eyes with Jo, "As much as it scares you being 'other', you're not. You can't let all this sever the relationship you have with your brother. He's going to need you know more than ever."

"When do you think he'll ascend?" Jo wondered.

"My guess is the next New Moon." Greta shrugged helplessly, "So, about thirteen days from the full moon at the ball this weekend." Nodding, Jo looked down again. She sucked in a breath and looked back at Greta.

"I'm scared for him." Jo said in a hushed voice. "I'm scared of what it will do to him if even a fraction more of that power becomes a part of him."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure he's told you the story," Jo said, "About how he put my boyfriend at the time in a coma?" Greta nodded. "But the thing is, I lied to him about that night. I have every time since then when he's asked me about it."

"Lied about what?" Greta reigned herself in, that quick panic wouldn't do either of them any favours.

"What _happened_ to him," she looked like wanted to cry, "What he _looked_ like before all the lights went out. What his voice sounded like…" Shuddering she pulled her hands up to hide her face, pressing her palms to her skin, willing the tears to stay at bay. "It's been in my dreams since I saw it and I see it whenever he looks at me." Jo wrapped her arms around her body. "I know I should have told him, but, he already hates himself so much…he hasn't let anyone touch him since he woke up and realised what he'd done. Not that mom would even try to anyways –"

"What's the deal there?" Greta wondered. Jo sighed in annoyance.

"I don't know. Before Malachai snapped that night, everything was fine. My mom went from loving us to looking at us like we'd crawled out of the seventh circle to eat her soul or something."

"She thinks you're a witch too."

"She didn't even give me time to deny it. One moment she's yelling and packing up everything, the next thing I know we're here and we're being told that we're joining a Coven. Then, your High Priestess takes one look at me and announces my powerlessness."

"Yeah, I'd ignore her. Tact isn't her forte."

"I didn't want to have powers after what I'd seen, so I didn't even care." She wiped at her tears, "But the look on Malachai's face, realising he was all alone in this, I –" Greta snapped her seatbelt off and pulled Jo into her arms.

"Hey, ssh, ssh, ssh. We're going to fix this." It made Jo cry even harder because this was the second time she'd been hugged that day and it made her miserable thinking how her brother was longing for the same simple relief.

* * *

Bonnie was sitting in the centre of her bed with Nyx balled up in the space of her lap. She had a dark look on her face. At first she'd thought the traces of Damon she'd sensed in her bedroom was simply her mind playing tricks on her. But then, when she'd sought of the comfort of her mother's things she'd found one of Abigail's favourite necklaces to be missing.

This was the fourth time she was calling him and like the three attempts prior she was met with the same fate. His voice spoke out to her once more from the recording:

 _Hey it's Damon. If I care I'll call you back_

Bonnie mashed her thumb down and ended the call. " _If_ indeed," she muttered. She lifted her eyes to her surroundings. Took in the dense quiet that greeted her in response. Drawing in a deep breath she tossed her phone aside and closed her eyes. Raising her hands she began to chant one word over and over. " _Peractorum_." The spell for nostalgia. She let the spell coagulate with her favourite memories and soon Bonnie's bedroom was filled with the warm smell of cinnamon and the musical notes of Sheila's distant laughter.

Her heart shattered as she felt the ghost of her Gram's weathered fingers trailing down her cheek. The sobbing started then, stirring Nyx from her slumber. Bonnie moved and crawled into a ball, her cat making a home for itself by her stomach. Lying there, in the foetal position Bonnie cried.

And cried.

She cried as the smells of her childhood fell down around her, as the sounds of her mother and grandmother chanting and singing lulling her into a restless sleep. Even in her dreaming she continued to cry; her mind already dissatisfied with the reprieve her subconscious would offer. Because it would never be real. Never again.

* * *

 **A/N:** The song the girls are all singing along to in the beginning of the chapter is called ' _Dancing On Quicksand_ ' by Bad Suns. The next two chapters are big ones. Review if you're ready for 'em! XO


	7. Mommy

**Note:** This entire update is a flashback. I didn't edit. My typos like long walks across my page, exclamation points and hate the new icon and layout for Instagram. _Boop_.

* * *

 **The Arsonist's Lullabye**

Bonnie was still on her knees, in the middle of the woods, shaking. Her tears hadn't stopped; not even when Grams' body withered to fine powder and swept up and away on its own accord. Her fingers, thick with Katherine's blood clenched and fisted, wrung themselves and fidgeted as Bonnie came to terms with everything. The blade had long fled her grip and clattered to the hard earth beneath.

Katherine had been their last chance for this entire situation to end amicably. She was the third doppelgänger; which in itself was leaving it to chance. Every doppelgänger after the first has less and less magic within them. But Katherine still held magic within her blood, which was lain dormant when she was turned – making her human again had been the only answer. Making her human meant that when a Bennett cast the spell to unbind Klaus, there was enough magic already present within the doppelgänger to compensate for the power required to see the spell through.

Now all they had left was Bonnie and Elena. Elena who had zero magic orbiting in her bones. All she had was the convenience of aesthetic and the base components of her ancestors. It made Bonnie want to laugh just thinking it. For all Elena's quells with Katherine and her life becoming absorbed with the magical and fantastical; her very existence mocked her creation – she wasn't enough to give Klaus what he needed. No, but she also wasn't going to be the one to pay the price.

Elena being a doppelgänger was enough to form the shape of the key to unbind Niklaus but Bennett magic was required to fill the spaces and cast the spell. And while Bonnie had full faith in her magic to do both – she knew the end result was inevitable; she was going to die. The scales had shifted and it wasn't in her favour. The only way to stay true to her Grams' promise to Klaus was to cast the spell, with Elena's blood and kill herself in the process. The balance required it. It was the only way. It was why Sheila had fought so hard in the first place to create the unlawful spell to make Katherine human.

An angry scream roared through Bonnie's body. It sounded like a wolf howling out 'why'. Before anyone could say anything or worse, try and touch her, she teleported to her room in her home. Ignoring her tracks of dirt she scrambled for her phone and didn't think twice about the number she needed to dial.

She couldn't call her Cluster, didn't dare to think to bring them into this. There was a reason she cut them off – reason _s_ ; she needed them safe. She needed them happy and bringing them down into the hysteria that was doing quick work of consuming her was not an option. They deserved better. Her Coven deserved better. She didn't belong, never did; and today was proof of why.

She didn't know the first thing about staying true to a plan – being part of a team. She only knew how to act on impulse, on her own version of justice. That's why a large part of her hadn't cared when she was killing Katherine. That part of Bonnie was willing to and had accepted that it would lead directly to her _own_ death. And she could live with that. Bonnie's heart was racing as she waited for the call to connect – she was running out of time.

"Hello –"

"Mom?" Bonnie hiccupped, still crying, "Mommy, I _need_ you." Her voice broke and she didn't dwell on it. "Please," she pressed her eyes closed as she sent tethers of her magic to Abby to latch onto and find her, "Please come here, come home, I need you."

"Bonnie, I –" a gasp. Good, she felt the magic. "Baby, I'm coming." When the call cut off Bonnie fell to her knees once more and let the shudders grow to full shaking as her adrenaline melded with hurt and pain and an aching, a longing for her Grams. A hole in her chest she didn't want to live with. Wouldn't have to live with. Familiar arms closed around her and the rest of Bonnie's body collapsed as Abby held her.

* * *

Damon was in a vervain laced haze. Every part of himself that he'd thrown against the cell that had broken had been bled in with more of the vervain and the quantity in his body had reached such a stage that not only was he well on his way to desiccating, but he was also so far gone out of his own mind that the jagged pieces of his memories were blending messily with what was happening around him in that moment.

He could feel the coarse and jagged edges of the cell floor beneath him give way to the gentle prickling of blades of grass. He could hear the echo of his human heart even with the roaring in his ears. Someone was calling him, and the louder her voice grew, the quieter everything around it became. He needed that voice to be the only thing he heard. Needed it now.

"Damon?" His eyes opened and it was her, a version of her. Maybe it was a combination of them, Katherine and Elena, Elena? Who was Elena? Who was this Katherine? He was seeing two of them in any case, maybe they were both there.

"Help me." He muttered, choking on the bitter film of vervain that seemed to have coated all of his insides, slowly eating through him like acid. Her shaking hands lifted him and he marvelled at the naked worry in her features. How her whiskey coloured eyes were furrowed over with a cloud of horror and caring. She wanted to be there in that moment, worrying for him, helping him. He hadn't realised just how much he'd needed it. "Everything hurts."

"I'm here, Damon, I'm here." She reassured him. "Keep your eyes open." She said, tapping at his cheek as she cradled him to her body. "Damon, keep your eyes open, look at me." Elena was looking down at the state he was in, wondering how he was even conscious. Nearly every limb was broken or bent and bruised. His eyes were lolling around in his skull, their colour turning milky.

"You're human." Damon slurred. "So human… maybe that's what we both needed to be. What do you think?"

"Damon if you were human too we would never have met." There was so much blood and vervain on him.

"A different world, another life." He exhaled shakily. "Eons apart, you and I. Even when we were in the same room."

"I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say. She'd never seen him this tattered, this honest. Stefan, who yearned for this version of his brother would also never believe that he existed anymore. But he did, and he was in her arms. That meant something, didn't it?

"I don't want you to be sorry." Damon said, looking up at her, a tear falling free as he wheezed noisily, "I just wanted you to love me. I need you to love me or let me go." Damon watched as the woman above him tilted her head, the light behind her illuminating the halo he'd always known to be there.

"Damon, you're a part of my life, I can't let you go because you want more than what I can give you."

"You should." He reasoned.

"And you shouldn't be so expectant of me. Not after everything you and Stefan have been through, not after everything we've had to deal with already."

"I can't help how I feel." His head rolled around in the cup of her hands. "Maybe I should die tonight. Maybe it's the only way this ends."

"I don't accept that." Elena swore. "Do you need my blood? Take my blood." She lifted him up, with some effort and held him steady so that they could look each other head on. A small part of her realised that only he could make being on the brink of death look like a normal day of the week. He was still handsome, even though she could see on his cheek where he'd smashed his face into the side of the cell, why he'd tried so hard to get out was beyond her. They'd taken care of everything, he didn't have to fight so hard. But he had.

"If I drink your blood I'll come to, and I'll remember where I am and how much it hurts and how much I deserve it to hurt."

"Just drink it." Elena muttered, her heart aching for the man in front of her. She guided his mouth to her neck, but before his lips passed her cheek he stopped her with an unprecedented burst of force and brought their mouths close.

"Maybe this is how it will always be, and maybe that's all it comes down to. And maybe that's what we all deserve." Elena's heart skipped several beats as his breath fanned over the bottom half of her face. "Maybe this is what I want."

"Damon, I, Stefan –"

"Unless this changes things, where's the harm?" Damon wanted to kiss this girl in front of him, he wanted her mouth to bleach out the years of suffering and bitterness he'd endured, willingly; he wanted it to mean more than revenge, he wanted closure, he wanted to be able to live with all the years behind him. In his mind, he'd earned this, at the very least.

"Kiss me and let me die." He gurgled at his hallucination. Her mouth found his as his eyes fluttered closed, the release of something tightly coiled in his chest coming undone and soaring away, further than he could see. He pressed his mouth to hers and cupped her face as much as he could, his weight too much for him to hold up, pressing more of him into her than they both expected. The Damon that had wasted years on anger and resentment was finally laid to rest at the sound of their lips breaking apart. The last thing he remembered was her yelling out in surprise and then his body being thrown against a wall.

* * *

Bonnie was a hurricane. She didn't know what she expected when she latched onto Elena's presence and opened her eyes to Elena and Damon kissing. Her grandmother was dead, Katherine was dead, Damon was making out with her best friend, the reason they'd all found themselves in this fucked up situation over and above the supernatural politics of it all. If Abby hadn't been holding her hand, she would have killed them both. She settled for tossing Damon into the wall behind them.

"Get up." Bonnie's voice was hard and unforgiving. "Get. Up." She half yelled.

"Bonnie, where did you go?" Elena stammered, her eyes wide.

"You're coming with me."

"Bonnie –" Abby's voice stopped the girl from pulling Elena by her hair. "Breathe, baby." Bonnie took the blood bag from where Elena'd left it in the corner of the cell and dropped it next to Damon's face as it lay pressed into the dirt. A raised hand opened the cell gate wider and Bonnie motioned to Elena for her to walk through it.

"We have to do this before Klaus gets wind of all of this." Just then one of the phones in her pocket rang. She shut her eyes for a moment as her grandmother's ringtone rang out in the dank underground of the Boarding House. "It's him." She said to her mother.

"Hello Miss Sheila." Klaus' smile leaked into Bonnie's ear from his side of the call. It made her skin crawl.

"It's Bonnie." She opted for curt.

"When can I expect a progress report?" The Mikaelson vampire wondered.

"We have what we need. Where can we commence the spell?" A delighted laugh answered her.

"You can meet me in the woods, love. Pick a spot and I'll find you." The line went dead.

* * *

"Bonnie, there's something I need to tell you." Abby said for the umpteenth time as she watched her daughter pace between Stefan and Elena. Stefan, who'd been _god knows where_ while his girlfriend had been kissing his brother. Looking through her phone Bonnie saw all the missed calls from him and understood. That didn't matter anymore and the young witch decided then and there that it never should have.

"Bonnie, what is your plan here?" He asked. She spun around to him and gritted her teeth.

"Elena will be safe." Bonnie spat. "That's all you need to know. I need some of her blood." She turned her gaze onto her doppelgänger best friend, "You'll have the _rest of your life_ to explain exactly why I found you kissing Damon in the cellars." With that, she spun on her heel and sent out a frequency of her magic, sensing who and what was where. "They're close."

"Bonnie, dear!" Klaus exclaimed, arms wide as he splayed his hands gleefully. "Would you care to tell me why there is only one Elena Gilbert and no Katherine or Sheila Bennett to be found?" He cut right to the chase and Bonnie was too caught up in her own head to notice the look exchanged between her mother and Elijah, who'd accompanied his brother to what he expected would end in mass murder. She hated that the first time her Grams would be spoken of since her loss, would be from the mouth of a creature as vile as Klaus Mikaelson.

"They're both dead." The Bennett witch's voice was clipped, even as her mother took her hand.

"How unfortunate." Klaus pouted slightly, pensive. "I don't suppose you have an alternate plan? One that doesn't involve you wasting my time and pushing the limits of my patience?"

" _Niklaus_ –" Elijah tried to interject.

"Brother, you're here because you insisted. Don't join the list of people standing in my way."

"I intend to keep my grandmother's word." Bonnie ended their bickering. "I will do the spell myself."

"Bonnie –" Abby's interruption was outdone by Klaus' cackle.

"A girl as slight as you?" The Fair Mikaelson rubbed at his perpetual stubble, "I doubt you've even been kissed yet, let alone been around a grimoire long enough to memorise a spell as intricate as _this_." Klaus' demeanour changed as he flashed until he stood before Bonnie. "Do you honestly think after seeking out the strongest High Priestess this era has seen since _my very own mother_ that I would settle for the runt of the litter because she feels she has something to prove?"

Bonnie wanted so many things in that moment. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to rip his chest open and breathe fire on his insides and leave nothing but the charred corpse of Klaus Mikaelson behind for his family of fiends to mourn. Bonnie wanted to explode. She wanted to combust and leave no trail of herself behind. She wanted to find the place her Grams had gone and seek asylum.

She wanted to hurt Damon. She wanted to tell him that all the years of his own hurt wasn't a means of justification to breaking her heart the way he had been since they'd met, simply because he couldn't exist outside of an agenda he'd been carrying for longer than she'd ever live. Bonnie wanted to hold her mother, she wanted time alone with her mother because it'd been so long since she'd even _seen_ the woman. She wanted Stefan dead for daring to come to Mystic Falls again.

She wanted to kill Elena, she wanted to spend more time hating Elena to make up for all the years she'd spent blindly loving the girl. Bonnie wanted her father to hold her other hand. Bonnie wanted Sun and Greta with her so badly; she could only breathe through the ache in her chest. But they were better off without her. Just as her grandmother would have been. Just like her mother _had_ been if her persistent absence was anything to go by.

She wanted the world to stop spinning. She wanted it all to end. She wanted someone else to have to be strong in that instant. She wanted the weight of the world to find elsewhere to be a burden or go ahead and crush her already. She was staring into the soulless eyes of the greediest monster she'd ever met and she was feeling a world of things but her face remained stoic.

She could have said a thousand things in return but all she did was release her mother's fingers and close even more space between the two of them and jut out her chin.

"Because if you don't let me cast the spell you need me to, and _die_ in the process, I will spend the rest of my days hunting you and yours and settle for nothing less than the extermination of every vampire to ever slither across this Earth." Klaus' smile began to spread until she gripped his shirt and brought them nose to nose to hiss in his face. "Know this; I am not afraid of you. I have nothing to lose and I don't care who dies as a result of being sired to you. I will kill you _all_." A vine of her power wound around his throat and stopped him interrupting her. "Don't forget Klaus Mikaelson, that the very same power that created you, that bound your true form, _my_ power, will surely be the end of you." She released him, the strength of the release pushing him a few feet away from her as Bonnie turned to face Stefan and Elena. "The girl's blood, now." She ordered.

"Bonnie, what are you _doing_ –" A startled gasp bubbled from the girl's lips as Bonnie made an incision in her wrist using her magic. As Stefan made to interrupt, the sound of his neck snapping caused the doppelgänger to jerk in her friend's hold. He dropped to the floor and no one but Elena made any protest. Bonnie hadn't even given any indication of using her magic.

"Anger is very becoming on you." Klaus complimented, as he watched Bonnie pour the procured blood in a vial she'd been wearing as a necklace.

"Death is very becoming on you, pity it didn't stick." She said distractedly. As Bonnie made to reach out for his hand a gust of magic knocked the wind out of her and she skid across the floor, eyes wide, knowing it was her mother who'd done it. The vial reappeared in Abby's hands as Bonnie coughed and rolled to a stop.

"I can't stand by and do nothing." Her mother explained as Bonnie fought against the wall of her mother's powers. Abby was supposed to be weaker than this. Had she simply masked her true power from them all? "Bonnie, you're not dying tonight. I know tonight has been about what you can't live with, but you, losing you, I would never survive that, and there are many who feel the same as I do."

"Mom, **no** –" Bonnie's panic choked her as tears of realisation smarted her eyes. The power-wielding pillar she'd been seconds ago, was crushed under the threat of losing her mother. It didn't matter what she had to withstand, but losing another person who loved her, because they loved her? Impossible.

"Baby, you'll be okay. You're my phoenix remember?" Abby smiled, a tear slipping over her cheek.

" **No**!" Bonnie screamed, but Abby had already started chanting. Stefan came to, and flashed upright, pulling Elena a few feet away, floored at the sight unfolding before him. Bonnie was crumpled on the floor, trying to move leaded limbs as she watched her mother give her life, like her grandmother just had – for her. "Mom, please, please no, don't do this, I –" her chest was vibrating with fear and helplessness. Elena was still, frozen with her mouth gaping, in her own powerlessness. Klaus stepped toward Abby with a small smile on his face, more pleased with having the second in power being at his behest. Abby drew a swirling pattern onto his forehead with Elena's blood, instructing him to drink the remainder in the vile as she chanted.

The snapping sound of Klaus' bones that followed a stream of Latin chanting, seemed to startle Elijah into action. Bonnie's hysteria melded hastily with confusion as she watched Elijah speed toward her mother and be thrown back.

" _No_." Her mother roared. "This choice is mine to make."

" _Back_ brother," Klaus snarled with canined teeth, "Let her die as she wishes."

"Very well." Elijah agreed and, thinking he was beating the spell, he snapped Abigail Bennett's neck in front of all those in attendance.

* * *

By the time Damon had followed the trail of Bonnie's scent to the centre of the woods there was nothing left behind. He could smell her magic, mangled with something akin to it, Sheila's probably. No one was answering their phones and he'd been to Bonnie's house and back to the Boarding House, even the cemetery at least three times now. He was at a loss of what to do.

* * *

Bonnie's crying woke Sun in the dead of night. The sound was unlike anything Sun had ever heard outside of herself. The sound, in fact, had been the same wracked hoarseness of when she'd discovered her mother's death. It sank Sun's heart to the lowest pit of her stomach and hurried the girl along the moonlight corridors of her home to find the sound.

"Bonnie?" Sun called, as she sensed Annora nearby. Bonnie's crying lifted to a hysterical wail. Sun skid around the corner and found Bonnie holding her dead mother in her arms, Greta appearing the in the shadows next to Sun. "Oh my god." Sun breathed as Annora stepped into view as well. Just then Abby gasped a haggard breath, frightening her daughter and the rest of the women surrounding them.

"… _Mom_?" Bonnie blubbered, "Mo- _how_?" Annora's breathing hardened as they all watched Abby's eyes bleed red and black. "….No, I," Bonnie was shaking her head as she lifted her eyes to Annora and her Cluster. "I don't know how this is happening."

"Bonnie, get back." Annora ordered and Bonnie frowned through her crying and cleared her throat.

"It's _Abby_ , my mother –"

"I won't ask again, Bonnie." Annora said, voice steely and unaffected. Jonas appeared from behind Bonnie and lifted her easily into him arms and put some distance between her and her mother. Bonnie was so delirious with emotion and adrenaline that she flailed in his hold, yelling while Annora lifted Abby into the air with her magic.

"No," Bonnie screamed, "Leave her alone, please." _It's my fault_ , Bonnie cried on the inside, _don't hurt her any more than she's already been hurt, please_.

"I banish you," Annora said, voice clear and strong in and amongst Bonnie's shouting, "If we ever see you again, you will be killed."

"Annora –" Sun was exiled to the backyard of the estate with Greta for her interjection. They found themselves trapped by their Elder Cluster's magic, rooted to the spot as they listened to Bonnie's screams from inside the house. Bonnie shoved out of Jonas' hold and sent him careening backwards with her magic, blind with grief. He was left unconscious, slumped in a nearby corner.

"Bonnie," Annora's voice barely lifted the fog over the girl's eyes into a state of recognition.

"Let my mother go, this isn't her fault."

"I know exactly whose fault this is." Annora sneered. "Your _grandmother's_."

"It's _mine_." Bonnie bit out as her terrified mother hovered between her and Annora, "All of this is my fault and if you dare say anything about my grandmother, I will –"

"You'll _what_?" Annora scoffed, "Make an even bigger embarrassment of the Bennett legacy? She may be the High Priestess, but that will never compensate for your obviously incapable magic."

" _Fuck you_." Bonnie hissed.

"I'm moving to have you removed from the Coven." Annora decided. "I don't care what Sheila say-"

" _ **Sheila is dead**_." Bonnie's outburst left them both in a deafening silence, save for her own laboured breathing. "So ban me from the Coven, strip me of everything, but if you lay one more hand or spell on my mother I will burn this place to the ground." For a long moment Annora seemed to process the information; held in her hands all of her own moments with Sheila Bennett, cherished them, she even allowed tears to well up in her eyes. But then she squared her shoulders and remembered her duty.

"If what you say is true," Annora said slowly, looking down at Bonnie, "then you've left me no choice." She twirled her wrist and completed the exiling of Abby and stepped into Bonnie's space. "I'll see you in the morning for the hearing."

With that, she pushed Bonnie through the folds of time and space to teleport the girl into her own bedroom. Where Bonnie would stay, and listen to every piece of her heart breaking as she cried.

* * *

 **A/N** : I wrote a long ass note but decided to forego it for this: Yes this is a Bamon fic, yes this is some sort of homage to everything I wanted from TVD and YES there are more chapters where this came from. I've written up to Ch 11 so far, and I've barely cracked the top off of the situation I'm going to unfold with this story, so get excited.

Also, the more reviews I get, the more I will post of this story, so the ball is in your court in that regard.

Upcoming updates: _Better Than Forever_ , _Let Bygones be Bygones-ish_ , _We're All Mad Here_ (remember, the sequel to _Have I Gone Mad_?)


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